EX-THAI TOURISM CHIEF TO FACE TRIAL ON TAKING FESTIVAL BRIBES

Thailand’s Anti-Corruption Commission has recommended that the former head of the country’s tourism office be prosecuted for allegedly taking bribes from a Los Angeles couple who were awarded a contract to run the Bangkok International Film Festival from 2003-2006. In addition to the charges leveled against Thai Tourism Authority Governor Juthamas Siriwan, the NAAC ruled that her daughter participated in a money-laundering scheme to cover up the bribe from Gerald and Patricia Green, who were convicted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 2010 and sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months of home confinement and pay fines totaling $250,000. They had been accused of paying Siriwan $1.8 million in bribes in return for contracts valued at $13.5 million. Federal prosecutors had argued that the sentences were too lenient and had asked that the Greens be sentenced to a “significant number of years in prison.” Last week they withdrew that appeal. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Greens’ attorney, Marilyn Bednarski, said. “It is unfortunate that the Justice Department’s disagreement with the Greens’ business practices in this case led to the demise of that festival.”