Ex-BBC bank president dies

Krirkkiat Jalichandra, the former president of the defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce, died of cancer on Saturday at age 63.

A bathing rite will be held this afternoon at Wat Thatthong. His family has decided to keep the body for 100 days after the religious ceremony.

Krirkkiat had been sentenced to a total of 70 years in jail in at least seven different cases related to the looting of the BBC in the 1990s.

At the time of his death he had not exhausted all of the appeals against his sentences, with hearings postponed because of his worsening health problems.

In the most recent Appeal Court decision, in December last year, it upheld a sentence of 20 years in jail for embezzling 1.22 billion baht from the bank.

Bangkok Bank of Commerce came to symbolise the era of reckless and poorly supervised lending that helped lead to the economic crash of 1997 in Thailand.

Its collapse under the weight of US$3 billion in debts in 1995 preceded the failure of 56 other Thai financial institutions.

BBC stood out because it extended huge sums through dummy accounts to politicians and their proxies for property and stock speculation, corporate takeovers and other purposes.

Along with Krirkkiat, the other high-profile figure associated with BBC was the Indian-born financier Rakesh Saxena. Saxena fled Thailand in 1996 and spent the next 13 years fighting extradition from Canada.

Saxena claimed repeatedly that he feared for his life if he returned to Thailand because powerful individuals would try to silence him. He finally ran out of appeals in Canada in 2009 and was sent back to Thailand. he has been in custody ever since.

The South Bangkok Criminal Court on June 8 this year sentenced Saxena to 10 years in prison for embezzlement.

The lower court in April 2007 sentenced Krirkkiat and his two former deputies at the bank to 20 years in jail each. They were also ordered to pay 1.15 billion baht each in fines in addition to their joint liability to pay back 589.6 million baht to the bank.

The three were found guilty of embezzling 1.22 billion baht from the BBC in collusion with Saxena.

The Appeal Court in May 2011 upheld another 20-year jail term for the former BBC president in another BBC embezzlement case.

The Legal Execution Department this year retrieved about 500 million baht hidden in Switzerland by former BBC executives including Krirkkiat and Saxena.

The sum will go to the creditors of the bank. The department is also tracing embezzled money hidden in Canada.

To date, the department has also auctioned off BBC assets worth about 686 million baht, which would go to creditors, mostly financial institutions.

Share your thoughts

Discussion 1 : 21/10/2012 at 11:30 AM
I was talking to a top lawyer recently at a seminar I attended. He say that the court system has been changed- that the system now requires a court case to go on continuously after it has been convened- delaying tactics will not be countenanced. The problem is that there has been a significant backlog of cases, and all the old cases clogging up the system will be concluded within 2 years. After they are gone the wheels of justice should turn a little faster- we hope. from iPhone application.
Discussion 2 : 21/10/2012 at 06:18 AM
#1 khunbj I think you lie so much you believe yourself. The Demos inherited the crisis when they came to power in 1997, then they shephearded the economy through some really tough years after the country had to be bailed out by the IMF, which as we know loans out money with many strings attached, forcing the economy to readjust. In one way you are right, the years of austerity cleaned up the economy, and just as it started growing again there was the election, and people voted in TRT because the austerity measures were blamed on those in power, and Thaksin claimed the credit for the boom years that followed. Should actually credit the IMF.
Discussion 3 : 21/10/2012 at 01:30 AM
pointoffew, Discussion10. "I know another very rich Thai family which until today - and likely for the next many generations to come - is allowed to profit from the illegal enrichment by an ancestor." It would be good for everyone to know the name of the particular family you mention. Could you please give the name. It is important that people know who they should be able to respect, and any family that has knowingly continued to profit from the illegal acts of their ancestors can hardly be said to be worthy of respect.
Discussion 4 : 21/10/2012 at 12:50 AM
So how long will Thaksin get if his rip offs ever reach the courts ? No wonder he is set on a whitewash no matter how much damage he does to his country.
Discussion 5 : 20/10/2012 at 11:51 PM
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)
Discussion 6 : 20/10/2012 at 10:54 PM
D1 : Ehm...the Democrats took office in '97. Maybe you should check out who was in office before that,when commenting on something you obviously know nothing about?
Discussion 7 : 20/10/2012 at 10:22 PM
Khunbj, perhaps you enlighten us as to whom (politicians) the billions used to be lended to, and list names and numbers. As of today the present goverment is unaccountable for hundreds of billions of THB in flood prevention managment, the rice scheme and much more.... Thai politics is a mess now, was then and will be forever inviteably, due to a lack of moral and respect towards the electorate, corruption and greed, and they come and go in various colors.
Discussion 8 : 20/10/2012 at 10:20 PM
There will always be idiots who try to distort history. The financial debacle came during Gen. Chavalit's Administration with Dr.Amnuay Veerawan as finance ministry. Some of us might recall that there were those who profited greatly from the Baht devaluation thereafter.
Discussion 9 : 20/10/2012 at 09:47 PM
Once again confirmed what many already knew: people as powerful as this guy will never spend a day behind bars. I hope - but don't believe - that the illegal gains made will be recovered. If not, the heirs will keep reaping the fruits from what essentially is systematic fraud and corruption. I know another very rich Thai family which until today - and likely for the next many generations to come - is allowed to profit from the illegal enrichment by an ancestor. And there are hundreds if not thousands of such families.
Discussion 10 : 20/10/2012 at 09:23 PM
khunbj Using a mans death to make a political poke is kind of sad .
Discussion 11 : 20/10/2012 at 09:22 PM
khunby #1 - Rewrite history much?
Discussion 12 : 20/10/2012 at 09:17 PM
There is something seriously wrong with a justice "system" that allows for appeals for what, 15 years? Ridiculous
Discussion 13 : 20/10/2012 at 09:04 PM
Khunbj, the banking system is as dangerously overleveraged today as it was in 1997. Do you really believe that the Thai economy is expanding organically at the same time that Western consumption collapses? History is repeating in Thailand but few recognize the signs. Life is good. Everyone is feeling rich. We have seen this movie before. Plan accordingly.
Discussion 14 : 20/10/2012 at 08:38 PM
We have even more reason to recognize that your beloved TS is no different then his predecessors. Just a different flag with different names. The only twist now is that all of the stealing is taking place under the term of Populism. Get it right, get a real life.
Discussion 15 : 20/10/2012 at 08:37 PM
Hang on a mint he was extradited from Canada back to Thailand.So Thailand dose have extradition treaty with other countries. Clearly that is not the case if you are a fugitive ex prime minister ,you do not fall in that category then and are above the Law.
Discussion 16 : 20/10/2012 at 08:16 PM
khunbj, take your blinkers off. Everybody can Google on what happen then, what happens now is worse and definitely on a larger scale than ever.
Discussion 17 : 20/10/2012 at 08:05 PM
Our beloved politicians don't realize that corruption causes stress, and that stress takes a heavy toll on the body. Up to 95% of all illnesses are caused by stress. Being a politician, policeman, government official, kamnan, puyai bahn, etc. are therefore hazardous, life-threatening careers.
Discussion 18 : 20/10/2012 at 05:54 PM
A fond memory from the last time the Democrats were in power..."The collapse of the BBC came to symbolise the era of reckless and poorly supervised lending that helped lead to the economic crash of 1997 in Thailand.Its collapse under the weight of US$3 billion in debts in 1995 preceded the failure of 56 other Thai financial institutions.BBC stood out because it extended huge sums through devious channels and dummy accounts to politicians and their proxies for stock speculation and other purposes." Here we have the reason for Thaksin's later landslide victory, people tend to forget how poorly run the country was.

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