By Thai Newsroom Reporters
FORMER COMMERCE MINISTER-turned-convict Boonsong Teriyabhirom was released on parole today (Dec. 2) after he had served seven years in jail in relation to a graft-riddled rice subsidy scheme run by a previous Pheu Thai government.
Boonsong who was today released from a prison hospital in Bangkok and heading for his northern home province of Chiang Mai is legally obliged to wear an EM ankle bracelet as a convict on parole for a period of three years and five months until he is scheduled to be completely freed in 2028.
In 2017, the former Pheu Thai commerce minister was found guilty of misconduct charges pertaining to the scandalous rice subsidy scheme in the time of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, and originally sentenced to 48 years in jail which was curtailed in 2021 to 10 years.
Boonsong is largely known as an entrusted protege of Yaowapa “Jay Dang” Wongsawat, sister of the de facto Pheu Thai boss and spouse of former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat.
However, it remains to be seen whether or how soon former Pheu Thai deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol may be released on parole as well since he had faced similar misconduct charges as in Boonsong’s case.
The billionaire power player Thaksin has repeatedly confirmed his fugitive sister Yingluck who escaped from the country where she would have been otherwise subject to a jail sentence for duty negligence charges over the same rice subsidy scandals would return home from self-exile abroad just ahead of Songkran festival in the upcoming April.
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Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyabhirom. Top photo: Thai Rath, Front Page photo: Sanook.com
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