Thanathorn’s younger brother gets six months in jail for bribery

A real estate developer was sentenced to six months in prison by the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases today, after being found guilty of bribery.

Sakulthorn Juangroongruangkit, CEO of Real Estate Development Company Ltd. and younger brother of Thanathorn, leader of the Progressive Movement, was accused of paying a 20-million-baht bribe to an official of the Crown Property Bureau and another man, in exchange for allowing his company to rent 1.02 hectares of land in the Chidlom area of Bangkok without calling an open bid.

The Crown Property Bureau official, Prasit Apaipolcharn, and a broker, Surakit Tungwithoonwanit, were sentenced to prison terms in 2017 for taking the bribe. They were released in 2020.

Initially, the court sentenced Sakulthorn to eight months, but commuted the sentence to six months in consideration of the testimony he gave during the trial.

The land used to be the location of the head office of the now defunct Telephone Organisation of Thailand and is reported to be some of the most valuable in Bangkok.