VZCZCXRO8911
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBK #2510/01 2740956
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 010956Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8467
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1971
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 7544
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 5841
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0026
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 7083
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 002510 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, NSC FOR WALTON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: AFTER THE DEATH OF CROWN PRINCE VAJIRALONGKORN 
TAGS: PREL PGOV TH
SUBJECT: THAILAND: COURT SENTENCES THREE IN LOTTERY CASE, 
ABSOLVES THAKSIN CABINET, RESERVES JUDGMENT ON THAKSIN 
 
REF: A. BANGKOK 2289 (THAI POLITICAL ROUNDUP) 
     ¶B. BANGKOK 2418 (RUBBER SAPLING) 
     ¶C. BANGKOK 2489 (PREAH VIHEAR IN PLAY AGAIN) 
     ¶D. BANKOK 2386 (RED SHIRTS PREPARE TO MARCH) 
 
BANGKOK 00002510  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRS A.I. JAMES F. ENTWISTLE, REASON 1.4 (B) 
 AND (D) 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The Thai Supreme Court on September 30 handed 
down suspended jail terms to three officials from the Thaksin 
administration for their role in a lottery scheme deemed 
illegal, though they were not convicted on separate charges 
of financial corruption/benefitting from the lottery.  The 
court acquitted most of the Cabinet members named in the case 
and scheduled a November reading against four other 
defendants who did not appear in court.  Any potential 
judgment against Thaksin will be held in abeyance until his 
return, since he was not present in country when legal 
proceedings began. 
 
¶2. (C) COMMENT: The lottery case was the last of three legal 
cases against Thaksin and his associates grabbing headlines 
the past ten days.  Despite warnings from the United Front 
for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD, aka the 
"red-shirts") during the September 19 rally, that the three 
court cases could again prove "double standards" in the Thai 
judicial system and be a basis to rally further support, the 
results were decidedly mixed.  The rubber sapling case (ref 
B) acquitted Thaksin cabinet members of charges of 
malfeasance based on a purported lack of evidence.  The 
National Counter Corruption Commission indicted former PM 
Samak and former FM Noppadon for their part in supporting 
Cambodia's request to UNESCO to inscribe Preah Vihear in the 
list of World Heritage Sites, but exonerated most of the 
other officials involved (ref C).  The lottery decision 
dropped the most serious charges but found evidence that the 
officials, at Thaksin's direction, had knowingly broken 
existing laws on lotteries in setting up the two and three 
digit lottery schemes in 2003.  The rulings, in not 
satisfying either  yellow or red hard-core supporters, 
suggest that Thailand's justice system is capable of 
reviewing politically-charged cases and making decisions 
based on evidence and relevant laws. 
 
¶3. (S) Comment continued: the Thaksin-era lottery also has a 
tangential, though unreported, connection to one of the 
political dramas unfolding currently in Thailand: the ongoing 
dispute over appointment of a new National Police Chief and 
the possible resignation of PM Abhisit's Secretary General 
Niphon Promphan, who also works for the Crown Prince.  At the 
Crown Prince's direction, Niphon opposed Abhisit's choice, 
GEN Patheep, in favor of the Crown Prince's choice, GEN 
Chumpol Manmai.  The inside story on why the Crown Prince 
wanted Chumpol so much, and risk criticism for intervening in 
a high level personnel choice against the evident wishes of 
the PM, is that Chumpol allegedly served as Thaksin's bag 
man, personally delivering to the Crown Prince monies skimmed 
off the proceeds of the lotteries involved in the current 
court case.  While such a story cannot be reported in the 
Thai media due to Lese Majeste concerns, the Crown 
Prince-Chumpol connection underscores the sense of lottery 
critics that Thaksin launched the lottery scheme to create a 
government slush fund which he could use to fund not only 
populist schemes like scholarships but also pet projects off 
the books for personal and political gain, without any 
accountability.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
MIXED VERDICT: GUILTY STOOGES, INNOCENT CABINET, THAKSIN LATER 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The Supreme Court's Criminal Department for Holders of 
Political Positions on September 30 sentenced three high 
ranking Thaksin administration officials to two years 
imprisonment, suspended, for their roles in the two- and 
three-digit lottery project initiated in 2003.  The 
nine-judge panel found former Deputy Finance Minister 
Warathep Rattanakorn, former Finance Ministry Permanent 
Secretary Somchainuek Engtrakul, and former Director General 
of the Government Lottery Office Chaiwat Phasokphakdee guilty 
 
BANGKOK 00002510  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
of violating the Government Lottery Office Act. Of the 47 
people implicated in the scheme, including most members of 
Thaksin's former Cabinet, the three were the only ones found 
guilty; most of the other defendants were acquitted as the 
court determined they did not know the scheme was illegal at 
the time it was presented to the Cabinet for approval.  The 
court issued arrest warrants for ex-Finance Minister Suchart 
Chaovisit, ex-Commerce Minister Adisai Photharamik, former 
Director General of the Government Lottery Office Surasit 
Sangkhapong, and Somchainuek for their failure to appear at 
the court.  Verdicts against these four are due to be 
announced on November 19. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The panel found that the three acted at the 
direction of then PM Thaksin, suggesting they would find 
Thaksin guilty as well.  However, the decision against 
Thaksin will be held in abeyance until he returns to 
Thailand, since under Thai law criminal/judicial proceedings 
cannot start in the absence of a defendent. 
 
¶6. (C) National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) attorney 
Sitthichoke Sricharoen, who filed the case for the NCCC, told 
us October 1 that the Supreme Court decision was a good 
verdict and set a precedent for future cases.  Sittichoke 
claimed it showed that the judges had carefully studied the 
evidence in the case, the relevant laws and regulations, and 
convicted only those who had intentionally violated the law. 
Sitthchoke regretted that the judges had not given more 
severe penal terms; a two-year sentence can be immediately 
suspended, as was done in this case, while sentences three 
years or more cannot be suspended. 
 
REDSHIRT REACTION SO FAR...MUTED 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) During the September 19 red-shirt rally, red-shirt 
speakers warned supporters that the series of legal cases 
against Thaksin-affiliated politicians in the next two weeks 
would offer evidence of double standards of the Thai 
judiciary, and provide reason to initiate another protest in 
October.  Despite the decidedly mixed results in the three 
cases, with nearly all defendents exonerated, UDD spinmeister 
Sean Boonpracong claimed to us October 1 that this latest 
decision was one more instance of the justice system pounding 
away at the red-shirts.  Publicly, though, the red reaction 
has been negligible. 
ENTWISTLE