ThaiHome Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 You are refereeing to the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (1997/2007). This is serious shit and just about every US MNC does training for its people working overseas. TH Here is the case you are referring to: From the FPCA Blog Thursday, January 15, 2009 Our Hollywood Minute Let's not forget the Greens. They're the husband-and-wife movie producers arrested in December 2007 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prosecutors allege they paid more than $1.8 million in bribes to a former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in return for $14 million in contracts to stage the Bangkok Film Festival. According to the docket at the Los Angeles federal criminal court, their trial is now set to start on April 21st. Gerald Green, 76, and his wife Patricia, 53 -- whose screen credits as producers include Rescue Dawn -- pleaded not guilty in October last year to all 21 counts of a superseding indictment. In addition to the FCPA charges, they face counts for money laundering, illegally transporting money-laundering proceeds, and filing false tax returns. The government has also filed a forfeiture action against some of their property, and the court has issued a restraining order that prevents them from disposing of those assets at least until the trial's outcome. The Greens face up to five years in prison for each FCPA charge, up to 10-years for each tax count, and up to 20 years for the money-laundering charges. And in yet anther sign of growing cross-border cooperation in the fight against public corruption, the Thai Department of Special Investigation has apparently been sharing potential evidence it collected with U.S. authorities. Pretrial maneuverings show that the Greens have tangled with prosecutors over "hundreds of documents written in the Thai language, which the plaintiff, United States of America, apparently received from the Kingdom of Thailand." The U.S. hasn't said yet which of those documents it intends to use at trial. The Thai official at the center of the case against the Greens is reported to be Juthamas Siriwan, who headed the Tourism Authority of Thailand from 2001 to 2006 and was in charge of the film festival the Greens produced. She denies doing anything wrong and has threatened to sue anyone implicating her in the case. She resigned as deputy chair of Thailand's Puea Pandin (People's Power) Party soon after the Greens' arrest in December 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sakai Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Thailand: sea, sex and protests Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Yes, this must be the same case. I hadn't seen the FCPA blog site before (but very interesting). What is also interesting is that the only thing I read about TAT while in the US was a feature story about this case. You mention: "She denies doing anything wrong and has threatened to sue anyone implicating her in the case. She resigned as deputy chair of Thailand's Puea Pandin (People's Power) Party soon after the Greens' arrest in December 2007." This was also mentioned in the article, but in the context of: "what does this tell us about Thailand if the Greens are convicted and go to jail?" A reminder of how things I think are strange here are also considered strange when you are out LOS. Maybe we can work this into the TAT's new slogan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 she is without doubt a crony of Mr. T (assigned by him as governor of TAT)! but that's just the tip of the iceberg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 she is without doubt a crony of Mr. T (assigned by him as governor of TAT)! but that's just the tip of the iceberg! We are getting off topic, but that's OK with me because this raises an interesting question: why isn't the current government pursuing corruption charges more aggressively against the cronies of Mr. T? I absolutely agree that this is only the tip of the iceberg. So why doesn't the current government use real corruption cases to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the rest of the world instead of, oh say, ousting a PM for appearing on a cooking show? The Western media and Thaksin supporters legitimately, IMHO, cried double standards when this occurred. That should not have come as a surprise. But what does surprise me is the failure to pursue real meaty corruption cases against Mr. T's cronies. Look at how the U.S. is treating the guy who allegedly paid kick backs in this case - hardly kid gloves. No one is going to cry foul if the Thai authorities starting pursing the Mr. T's cronies on real corruption charges. Is it a case of don't throw stones when you live in a glass house? From what I have seen, the current PM and his inner circle seem to be clean. So what is holding them back? (I think I know the answer, but couldn't resist posing this rhetorical question - this is what happens when I come back from a three week vacation in the US and Europe.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLeakHunt Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 Empty bollocks, empty wallet, empty promises. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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