Thammanoon Phaiju, who was Thalang Police Chief in Phuket in 2010, was initially sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for wrongful exercise of duties charges brought under Section 157 of the Criminal Code, reported anti-corruption watchdog Isra News.
The charges were brought against Thammanoon by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the report noted.
The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct, Region 8, handed down its initial sentence of three years’ imprisonment for each foreigner released, noting that together they represented three counts of breach of Section 157.
Breach of Section 157 of the Criminal Code may incur imprisonment of one to 10 years, or a fine of B20,000 to B200,000, or both.
The court handed down its sentence on Sept 26, 2019, the report noted, citing a release from the NACC.
However, as Thammanoon confessed to the charges, his sentence was reduced to half the sentence handed down, in accordance with Section 78 of the Criminal Code. the Isra report explained.
The NACC now has announced that Thammanoon’s sentence was reduced further by order of the Appeals Court, which on May 22 this year ruled that Thammanoon’s sentence be reduced to two years’ imprisonment for each count.
The court then reduced his prison term further, to three years in total, as the defendant already confessed, Isra explained, again citing another release by the NACC.
At a meeting on Oct 6 this year, the NACC together with the Office of the Attorney General agreed to not petition the judgement of the Appeal Court, said the Isra report.
Col Thammanoon was previously well-known as ‘Khai Mook Buster’ after he arrested notorious kidnapper Cherm ‘Khai Mook’ Seng-iad a decade ago, the report also noted.
He also ended up involved in many high-profile cases that gained a lot of public attention, the report said.