Thai businessman gets 1,244 years in prison for tour package investment scam

A Bangkok court sentenced a businessman to 1,244 years in prison on Wednesday for defrauding 311 people through a tour package investment scheme, though Thai law caps his term in this case at 20 years.

The Criminal Court ordered the term to be served after his sentences in seven previous criminal cases, The Nation reported.

Prasit Jeawkok, a former chairman of the Return Goodness to the Land project, stood trial alongside Kittisak Yennanont, vice-chairman of the M Group of companies.

Three companies involved in selling the tour packages were also on trial: Mandawee Tour, Nuea Lok and Web Sawasdee. Both men were listed as authorized directors of the firms.

Prosecutors accused Prasit, Kittisak and the three companies of jointly defrauding the public and violating the Computer Crime Act by offering tour packages at various prices while promising investors annual returns of 20%, the Bangkok Post reported. They described the scheme, which drew in 311 investors, as a Ponzi-style operation.

Prasit and the three companies initially pleaded not guilty but changed their pleas to guilty during the trial.

The court sentenced Prasit to eight years on each of 311 counts, or 2,488 years, then halved the total because his guilty plea had helped the proceedings.

A bus passes the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo by Unsplash/bady abbas

Each company was fined THB186.6 million (US$5.53 million), before their guilty pleas halved it to THB93.3 million. Prasit and the companies were also ordered to jointly repay all 311 victims, with annual interest of 7.5%.

Kittisak, who denied the charges throughout, was acquitted after the court found the evidence insufficient to prove his involvement and gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Prasit, who called himself the "Jack Ma of Thailand," was sentenced in July 2023 to 1,155 years over a luxury goods investment scheme with losses of more than THB1 billion, Khaosod English reported at the time. That term was also capped at 20 years.

In August, the same court gave him 20 years in another tour package case, ordering him and three companies to repay 173 victims of a scheme that prosecutors said took in THB102 million, The Nation reported.