Juthamas engulfed in elite privilege card scandal
Written by changthai11 on Sunday, October 5th, 2008
Juthamas engulfed in elite privilege card scandal
US COUPLE FACE NEW CHARGES OF BRIBING THAI TOURISM AUTHORITY HEAD
AP AND BANGKOK POST
LOS ANGELES: A former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) _ who has already been accused of bribery connected with the Bangkok International Film Festival _ is now accused in a new scandal relating to the Thailand Elite Card project.
Juthamas Siriwan, the TAT governor from 2002 to 2006, came to Thai authorities attention when US federal authorities accused an American film producer and his wife of paying bribes to a Thai official involved in the annual film festival.
Mrs Juthamas denied the claim.
Gerald Green, 75, and his wife Patricia, 52, were originally indicted in January on federal charges of bribing a former governor of the TAT so that they could manage the Bangkok International Film Festival.
A new indictment accuses the Greens of paying $1.8 million (61.8 million baht) in bribes to the TAT official so they would be awarded a variety of lucrative business contracts that brought them $14 million (480 million baht), the US attorney’s office said.
The couple have pleaded not guilty to the charges in the original indictment. The Greens are to be arraigned on Oct 14 on the new charges.
One of the contracts they received called for their firm to produce an ”elite privilege card”, initiated by the Thaksin Shinawatra administration in 2003, that gave the buyer special privileges in Thailand, such as being escorted through immigration and customs.
They also won contracts to design a calendar, a book and a website.
Between 2003 and 2007, the couple allegedly funnelled cash to the Thai tourism official, who used the money to influence the bidding process in favour of the company.
While not naming the official, the US Department of Justice said the person was the president of the Bangkok International Film Festival and the TAT governor.
Marilyn Bednarski, the attorney for Mrs Green, said the couple did not make any bribes.
”They are hard workers who employed a lot of people and did a lot of work on these contracts,” Ms Bednarski said.
Calls to Mr Green’s attorney were not returned.
The new indictment includes charges of bribery, 10 counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, seven money-laundering charges, two allegations of false subscription of tax returns, and others.
The charges potentially bring a lengthy total prison sentence, with each money-laundering count alone carrying a maximum of 20 years.
Prosecutors are alleging the Greens attempted to cover up their bribery by using different business entities, some with phoney addresses and telephone numbers.
Prosecutors claim that the couple used the entities to conceal the money they were paid under the contracts.
In the scandal surrounding the film festival, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has submitted the case to the National Counter Corruption Commission to take legal action against the former TAT governor.
The DSI found that there are grounds to take the case further.
The case was investigated by the DSI after a complaint was filed against the American couple.
They are accused by US authorities of conspiring to pay bribes of more than $1.7 million (58.2 million baht) to the former governor of the TAT to get a contract to run the film festival, as well as other deals worth a total of more than $10 million (343 million baht).
The money was transferred to bank accounts belonging to the former governor’s daughter.
