The Khon Kaen Provincial Court on Thursday sentenced Bhumjaithai Party MP for Khon Kaen, Ekarat Changlao, to nearly 13 years in prison for his role in the embezzlement of 405 million baht from the Khon Kaen Teachers Savings Cooperative.
His prison sentence was reduced by half following his confession to the crime.
Sources revealed that the sentence included terms of five years and 30 months for five counts of embezzlement and an additional 63 months for 21 counts of document forgery related to the embezzlement.
It has been found that Mr. Ekarat had reimbursed a total of 100.5 million baht through four separate payments between 2022 and 2024.
Following his application for temporary release while awaiting appeal, the court granted him bail set at 3 million baht and imposed a travel ban.
Anusat Sonsinpong, chairman of the Khon Kaen Teachers Savings Cooperative, mentioned that the cooperative initiated the lawsuit in 2019 and plans to pursue a civil lawsuit to recover the entirety of the funds embezzled.
He further stated that the cooperative had lodged a police complaint accusing Mr. Ekarat and others of stealing 201 million baht from its bank accounts during September and October of 2016.
Despite the return of the funds, the crime had been committed, according to Mr. Anusat.
Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, declared that the party would request Mr. Ekarat’s resignation to allow him to focus on his political career.
Bhumjaithai spokeswoman Boontida Somchai noted that Mr. Ekarat had been absent from any party events since September 24 of the previous year and had engaged in political activities with the Klatham Party for a time.
