BANGKOK: A Thai businessman has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Laos in a major corruption case involving a hydropower project under Electricity of Laos, or EDL.
The Vientiane Capital People’s Court announced verdicts on Wednesday (July 1) in four major corruption cases involving 17 defendants, including former senior government officials, state enterprise executives and businesspeople. At least 10 defendants received life sentences across the four cases.
For Thailand, the key case involved Thai businessman Aphichart Vannakul, who was convicted alongside four former senior EDL executives identified as Thongphet, Phonevixay, Saysanit and Khambon.
The court found all five guilty in a corruption case linked to an EDL hydropower project, although no specific details of the project were made public. The charges included embezzling state funds, abuse of office and bribery.
All five defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court also ordered Aphichart to pay more than US$24.8 million in compensation to EDL. It authorised the seizure and sale of his assets, including ten bank accounts, 11 land plots and a vehicle.
If those assets are not enough to cover the damages, the court ruled that assets belonging to the four former EDL executives will also be confiscated and sold.
More than US$1 million in bribe payments will also be confiscated and returned to the Lao state.
The EDL case was the fourth and largest of the corruption cases announced by the court. The other cases involved allegations within Laos’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a bribery network linked to inspection and banking agencies, and fraud at the Agricultural Promotion Bank. - Laotian Times via The Nation
