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Thailand : Red Bull hit and run case drifts, two years on

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  • #16
    Serious comedy
    ALAN DAWSON
    2 Apr 2017

    Just 32 years old, Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya leads a hectic, globe-trotting life. You have to understand that he can't just be on hand every time prosecutors want to get his views about his connection to the hit-and-run killing by his Ferrari more than four years ago. In fact, he has missed eight appointments in the past year.

    On Thursday, neither he nor his lawyers could make it to the office of the Attorney-General, but they sent along a "regrets" notice. Just two days before, international press organisations explained just why Mr Vorayuth was too busy to attend. The Associated Press tracked him on social media, and he's a veritable whirling dervish of busyness.

    He's going snowboarding, needs to get the Porsche at his London residence cleaned (customised licence BOSSrbr, meaning Red Bull Racing), his hair needs re-spiking and the Shanghai Grand Prix is this week; how the hell does one fit a mere Attorney-General into vital, long-planned business like that?


    Vorayuth 'Boss' Yoovidhaya, looking very cool for his official Instagram photo.

    Once again, the image of Thailand took an enormous hit, worldwide. Once again, the government that thinks anti-energy protesters are giving Thailand a bad name had nothing to say. The general prime minister, king of the Section 44s, said nothing.

    His namesake at the OAG, deputy spokesman Prayuth Phetkhun, quipped and jested like it was already April 1. "We are aware of the urgency to deliver justice", he joked. And, "In principle, we will certainly carry the case through before charges expire". "In principle", get it?

    But seriously, this case actually sets no time record. The current record to beat in The People vs Money and Influence is the state's case against yellow-shirt founder Sondhi Limthongkul, Maj Gen Chamlong Srimuang and a slew of alleged conspirators. Charged with a long list of crimes, they have been awaiting trial for exactly 100 months today -- 3,042 days, or about twice as long as Mr Vorayuth has been cooling his heels.

    Before last week, the record was the case against the shamelessly corrupt Juthamas Siriwan. It was at least as obvious as the case against Mr Vorayuth.

    When she was the head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, she blatantly sold her agency's Bangkok International Film Festival to an American couple for less than US$2 million.

    Juthamas and her money-laundering daughter flaunted the corruption, built a gorgeous mansion on the proceeds. Prosecutors took from 2003 to last Wednesday, 14 years, to hear the judge sentence mother and daughter to 66 and 44 years, respectively.

    Then for good measure the Appeal Court declared them a flight risk and ordered them kept behind bars, no bail. The National Anti-Corruption Commission has threatened to freeze their ill-got gains, but then the NACC has made lots of threats. Threats are cheap; slamming the Grey Bar Hotel doors shut on an LL (leveraged lady) is the real deal.


    Mr Vorayuth at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. His hair always looks good.
    (via social media)

    NACC threats have included bringing charges against the policeman who tried to blame Mr Yongyuth's servant for being the Ferrari driver. Few shiver in apprehension upon hearing "NACC".

    But let's look at the other end of this scale of political power and money. A separate prominent case wrapped up in Criminal Court on Thursday. It involved local power, which is often even more intimidating than national power.

    Village chief Krittidech Rawengwan, a local "influential figure" in Kalasin province, tried to use his local power to delay or avoid arrest for the rape and murder of 18-year-old Ruadeewan Polprasit on Dec 23, 2015. He is now on Death Row after an investigation and trial that took a year and three months, a total of 463 days.

    So justice does occur. It just doesn't occur every time.

    It probably means nothing ... well, so far rather obviously it has meant nothing but before Attorney-General Pongniwat Yuthapanboripan became the A-G in June, 2015, he had a great record as chief prosecutor of the OAG.

    It seems obvious the prosecutors assigned so far have been pretty cautious about pursuing Mr Vorayuth, although some would use a different word than "cautious".

    Another kiss-off of the prosecutors by Mr Vorayuth and his lawyers, another date set for them to come in and discuss just how Pol Snr Sgt Maj Wichian Klanprasert got caught under, and dragged by, Mr Vorayuth's Ferrari -- to death. That will be April 27, when his mother and the billionaire members of the Yoovidhya family lose their face again to protect the accused Red Bull killer.

    There are plenty of honourable families who respect the law, and there are lots of honourable people who take responsibility for their actions. Just none of them live at the compound at the end of Sukhumvit Soi 51.

    bangkokpost.com
    http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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    • #17
      There are plenty of honourable families who respect the law, and there are lots of honourable people who take responsibility for their actions. Just none of them live at the compound at the end of Sukhumvit Soi 51.


      http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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      • #18
        'Boss' strides atop pyramid of injustice
        Kong Rithdee
        Kong Rithdee is Life Editor, Bangkok Post.1 Apr 2017


        Boss and mother Daranee attend last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
        (Photo via social media)

        The boss walks free. The boss is the boss. The boss dines in France and snowboards in Japan. The boss rules the road and tramples the law. In the pyramid of privilege, the boss stays on top. In the food chain of injustice, the boss reminds us again, and again and again, who the boss is.

        If an alien came to Earth and asked us to describe what Thailand was, tell him the story of the boss.

        Like a bull charging at an unsuspecting matador, Red Bull heir Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya allegedly ran over Thong Lor policeman Wichian Klanprasert with his black Ferrari in the morning of Sept 3, 2012. Five years later, he still refuses to meet the prosecutors. Five years later, the boss is still "too busy". His brilliant lawyers are clearly performing some kind of legal legerdemain to delay the meeting, and what hurts us most -- us the people who could any day be trampled over by the rich kids of Bangkok -- is that the prosecutors seem blase about the whole thing.

        On Thursday the Office of the Attorney-General, insisting that they're on the ball, postponed Boss's summons for the sixth time to April 27. Mr Vorayuth, now 32, claimed he was busy in the United Kingdom. We never doubt for a moment how busy he must be after the AP report showing him jet-setting around the world, dining, wining, pool-dipping, merry-making, and loving every minute of his life spent in the cocoon of entitlement.

        The whole Boss saga was enraging enough. The case doesn't seem that complicated. There were witnesses and plenty of evidence. The victim was a policeman. The attempt to stall the case is blatantly obvious. What makes it even more enraging, however, is when we think about people who've been thrown in jail from far murkier circumstances and how alert and fast-moving the law seems to work in those cases -- the cases involving people stuck in the lower strata of the justice food chain: the teacher jailed for running over a man though it came to light that she wasn't the driver; the janitor who was convicted wrongly for robbery and who met the real perpetrators in jail (the culprits wrote letters to the court out of sympathy for the janitor); the old couple convicted for encroaching national forest for the simple act of picking wild mushrooms. The list goes on.

        And of course, Jatupat "Pai Dao Din" Boonpattararaksa has been locked up for three months for sharing an online article. The court has repeatedly denied Pai's bail with the same frequency as Boss the Bull has postponed his meeting with the law. Pai was jailed weeks after committing "the crime". Boss is a free man after five years.

        Tell me which case involves a dead policeman?

        If an alien came to Bangkok, tell him that the man-made concept of justice is fickle. For some it's a lethal injection to the head. For others its arrival can be delayed until eternity -- or until the statute of limitations expires. For Boss, he has 10 more years before the charges of reckless driving causing death go stale. For someone with money and pool villas, it doesn't seem that long.

        But at least we should learn something. In 2014, Boss's legal team sent a letter to the prosecutors asking for more witnesses to be questioned. His lawyers also petitioned the National Legislative Assembly's legal and justice committee to seek fairness in the treatment of the case. Last December the prestigious, coup-appointed NLA also informed prosecutors about Mr Vorayuth's request for justice. It's not clear what has entailed from that "informing" by the committee whose function is merely advisory.

        Still, does it mean anyone can now postpone the summons by petitioning the NLA, with the hope that the NLA will "inform" the prosecutors? This is a hit and run case with a dead body, and if something like this flies so smoothly with the assembly well-known for fairness, well-paid stipends and impeccable attendance, then those charged with less severe crimes -- crimes that lead to no death -- should look it up as precedent.

        Unless there's no precedent. There's only the boss.

        Upholding the rule of law is what the government promises us -- especially this government always claiming moral superiority. But what happens is evident: The manifest unfairness in the application of law, the relationship between wealth and delivery of justice, and the tentacles of influence that raise the elite -- the rich, the well-connected, the political class, the military -- above ordinary citizens who pay tax and wait to die on the sidewalk alone and in pain.

        So the boss walks free. Everyone else just lives on the breadcrumb of justice that always arrives too late, if at all.

        bangkokpost.com
        http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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        • #19
          Red Bull Heir Arrested in Hit-and-run

          Published on Sep 3, 2012

          http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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          • #20
            Raw Video: Red Bull Heir Arrested in Hit-and-run

            Published on Sep 3, 2012

            http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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            • #21
              Red Bull heir's court no-show

              Published on Sep 2, 2013

              http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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              • #22
                But if your name is Shinawatra, and you won 3 democratic elections meanwhile

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                • #23
                  In UK, Red Bull heir silent when asked about Thai crash case
                  Apr 5
                  LONDON (AP) -- An heir to the Red Bull fortune has refused to answer questions about whether he will return to Thailand this month to meet with prosecutors over an alleged hit-and-run that killed a police officer almost five years ago.

                  Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya was silent Wednesday as The Associated Press asked about his plans.

                  Standing outside a London residence, he didn't say why he was in Britain or whether he will meet with prosecutors in Thailand April 27.

                  He has been ordered to face charges of hit-and-run and reckless driving in the 2012 death.

                  He has not appeared for earlier meetings with prosecutors, including last week, but no arrest warrant has been issued.

                  An AP inquiry has shown that he has been living a lavish lifestyle in the years since the crash.

                  ap.org
                  http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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                  • #24
                    http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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                    • #25
                      Thailand to seek arrest warrant for Red Bull heir

                      Thailand's attorney general said on Thursday it would seek the arrest of an heir to the Red Bull fortune after he failed to meet prosecutors over an alleged hit-and-run that killed a police officer five years ago.

                      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-th...-idUSKBN17T0IA
                      http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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                      • #26
                        Red Bull heir faces passport revocation
                        29 Apr 2017


                        Vorayuth Yoovidhya is taken to the Police General Hospital to undergo a blood test in September 2012 following a hit-and-run collision that killed a policeman.

                        (Bangkok Post file photo)

                        The Foreign Ministry will be asked to consider revoking the passport of Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya, who faces an arrest warrant in a 2012 fatal hit-and-run case, says a senior prosecutor.

                        The ministry's Department of Consular Affairs would be consulted because Mr Vorayuth is now a fugitive in a criminal investigation, said Amnat Chotchai, director-general of the International Affairs Department of the Office of the Attorney General.

                        He said revoking the passport could pressure the suspect to turn himself in to authorities, but noted that the Department of Consular Affairs would consider the facts to determine if they justify such a dramatic step.

                        He said his department would not intervene in the decision-making process.

                        The possible revocation of Mr Vorayuth's passport has been raised after he repeatedly failed to answer charges in the 2012 case, in which a motorcycle police officer was dragged to his death by a speeding Ferrari.

                        The repeated no-shows by the 32-year-old billionaire -- who lives a life of luxury abroad and enters and leaves Thailand at will -- have outraged the public for years. But it was only last week that prosecutors finally sought a court warrant for his arrest.

                        To initiate the passport revocation process, the Royal Thai Police will inform the Foreign Ministry of the legal proceedings against Mr Vorayuth, Mr Amnat said.

                        A working panel has been set up to seek the extradition of Mr Vorayuth who is believed be staying in the United Kingdom. The team is waiting for a complete police report so that an extradition request can be lodged with authorities in the UK.

                        Mr Amnat heads the panel but declined to give further details about its members except to say that they have expertise in the matter.

                        Commenting on an observation that the suspect has a private jet and can travel with ease, Mr Amnat said Mr Vorayuth cannot just slip through immigration checks.

                        Even if the suspect leaves the UK, as long as the extradition request is not denied, the process remains intact, he said. If and when Mr Vorayuth re-enters that country, Thai authorities will submit a fresh request with updated information and the extradition process will resume.

                        bangkokpost.com
                        http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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                        • #27

                          Monday, May 1st, 2017

                          Thai police will ask Thai Interpol to help in locating his whereabout, and seeking the extradition if he is in the United Kingdom.

                          BANGKOK
                          http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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                          • #28
                            Should be easy to him, just follow the money, then begin freezing his bank accounts.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Fugitive Red Bull heir flew to Singapore before court date
                              May 2


                              AP Photo/Matt Dunham

                              BANGKOK (AP) -- Thai immigration authorities say the heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune who is wanted on deadly hit-and-run charges flew to Singapore two days before he was due to appear before prosecutors.

                              And airport authorities in Singapore confirmed Tuesday his private plane is still there.

                              When he left Bangkok, Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, 32, wasn't a fugitive. But on Friday authorities issued an arrest warrant and notified Interpol that he's wanted on charges of causing death by reckless driving and hit and run. Thai police say they don't know if he has left Singapore, and Thailand's foreign minister said he hasn't revoked Vorayuth's passport, which means he still could travel elsewhere internationally.

                              The arrest warrant came almost five years after Vorayuth allegedly left a motorcycle police officer dead after crashing into him with his Ferrari. His family, half-owners of the Red Bull empire, has an estimated wealth of more than $20 billion.

                              Police Lt .Gen. Nathatorn Prousoontor, commissioner at the Thai Immigration Bureau, said Tuesday that Vorayuth left Thailand on April 25, at 3 p.m., on a private jet. He left just weeks after an Associated Press investigation found he's been enjoying his family's jet-set life ever since the 2012 accident and days before he was due in court.

                              When approached a few weeks ago outside a family-owned home in London, Vorayuth refused to comment. Earlier this year AP watched him and his family enjoying a $1,000-a-night vacation in Laos, and saw social media postings of him snowboarding in Japan, attending Grand Prix races with Red Bull and visiting beach resorts in Southeast Asia.

                              All that time he's been repeatedly telling prosecutors, through his attorney, that he's sick or out of the country on business when called in to face charges.

                              Nathatorn said Vorayuth was allowed to fly out last week because the trip came before the arrest warrant was issued.

                              "The prosecutors are handling the case and there was no request to ban his traveling to us," he said. "We only have been informed that the arrest warrant was issued on Friday, April 28, which is after he had left the country."

                              Although Singapore has no official extradition agreement with Thailand, Interpol officials said police informally can arrange through other means to apprehend him there. Singapore police did not respond with comment immediately.

                              Friends and family postings on social media show Vorayuth has been in Singapore every year since the accident, often at Formula 1 races, but also celebrating family birthdays and holidays.

                              hosted.ap.org
                              http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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                              • #30
                                Thai fugitive Red Bull heir Vorayuth 'in Singapore'
                                3 hours ago

                                1.jpg
                                Mr Vorayuth has repeatedly failed to turn up to face charges
                                Image copyright EPA

                                Thai police say the heir to the Red Bull empire Vorayuth Yoovidhaya, who is wanted in Thailand over the death of a police officer, has fled to Singapore.

                                Authorities have said he left last Tuesday, days before a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to show up to face charges.
                                Mr Vorayuth allegedly knocked down the officer while speeding in 2012.

                                The high-profile case has attracted criticism that the elite enjoy special treatment from Thai authorities.


                                Singaporean police and aviation authorities did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment.

                                The Associated Press news agency said Singapore airport authorities had confirmed with them that Mr Vorayuth's private plane was in the country as of Tuesday.

                                A representative at Seletar Airport, which receives private aeroplanes, told the BBC that they were "unable to release any information" and declined to give a reason.

                                2.jpg
                                Mr Vorayuth's badly-dented grey Ferrari was found in his family's compound in Bangkok in 2012 shortly after the accident
                                Image copyright EPA

                                Singapore does not have an extradition agreement with Thailand, but the two countries frequently co-operate in transnational cases.

                                Mr Vorayuth has repeatedly failed to meet Thai police to face charges of speeding, reckless driving causing death, and fleeing the scene of an accident. Some charges have since expired.

                                His representatives have said each time that he was either away for business or too ill to meet police.

                                Thai news outlets quoted police as saying that Mr Vorayuth travelled to Singapore on 25 April, and that they were unable to stop him as this was before the warrant was issued on Friday.

                                A police spokesman also told The Nation newspaper that they did not put in place a travel ban as the case was about recklessness rather than one of criminal intent.

                                Thai investigators are now seeking to cancel Mr Vorayuth's passport.

                                bbc.com
                                http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

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