Bangkok – Thailand’s construction tycoon, Premchai Karnasuta, was sentenced to six months in jail on Tuesday for illegally possessing rifles but was released on bail.
The Criminal Court ruled that Karnasuta, Chairman, Italian Thai Development Company, was guilty of illegally possessing three rifles.
According to the ruling, one of the rifles was allegedly used in the illegal hunting of wildlife alongside three alleged accomplices in Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province in February 2018.
However, the court found him guilty of illegally possessing a cap gun and ammunition for the rifles.
But having confessed to the charges, the court reduced his jail term from one year to six months.
Though the Criminal Court’s verdict was delivered without suspension of the legal penalty, Karnasuta was released with 500,000 baht ($16,200) on bail.
He was certainly expected to appeal the judgment in the Appeals Court.
Earlier, the Thong Pha Phum court in Kanchanaburi sentenced Karnasuta to 16 months in jail for possessing wildlife carcasses including those of a black panther and a pheasant but the tycoon was released on bail.
Karnasuta and his accomplices were arrested while poaching in the wildlife sanctuary by officials of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to whom he had allegedly offered kickbacks.