A Thai MP, who at one level was involved in Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party, was jailed on Friday for corruption in a housing venture. MP Watana Muangsook, who left Pheu Thai to join Thai Sang Thai last year, is charged with eleven counts of corruption, together with abuse of power and demanding bribes.

In 2003, Watana was concerned in the Ua Athorn low-cost housing project started by former PM Thaksin. Thaksin’s cupboard approved one billion baht in state subsidies for the 2.5 billion baht venture. It included a million low-cost apartments and houses throughout Thaialnd. Each unit could be bought for four hundred,000 to seven hundred,000 baht.

After the 2006 army coup overthrew Thaksin’s authorities, Thailand’s Assets Examinations Committee investigated allegations against the government of irregularities. The committee discovered that eighty two.6 million baht from the project’s contractor was paid to Watana through the financial institution accounts of rice dealer Apichart Chansakulporn’s staff. The findings were handed on to the National Anti-Corruption Commision. In 2016, the commission resolved to send Watana’s case, and the instances of 13 others, to the Office of the Attorney-General.




In 2019, Watana accused the NACC of tampering with witness statements on the scandal.

On Friday, the courtroom confirmed a ninety nine 12 months prison sentence, nonetheless Thai law permits a most of 50 years.

Watana is sixty four years old. He started as a lawyer in 1982, earlier than transferring into politics in 1996. https://solarcellexperts.com/ is a graduate of Chulalongkorn University..