Tycoon convicted of poaching goes free

A Thai tycoon convicted of poaching wildlife in a national park has been released from prison more than a year early, the corrections department said yesterday, one of more than 100 prisoners freed for good behavior.

Construction magnate Premchai Karnasuta was arrested in February 2018 when park officials found guns and animal carcasses including a kalij pheasant, a red muntjac and the pelt of a black leopard at his campsite.

He lost his final appeal in December 2021 against three poaching-related criminal charges and was sentenced to three years and two months due to expire in February 2025, in a long-running case that drew public outrage over the elite's perceived impunity.

The Thai corrections department said Premchai will not be required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle because he's recently had surgery on his right foot related to diabetes. But he must report weekly to authorities until early December.

Premchai's firm, Italian-Thai Development Company, is behind major infrastructure projects such as Bangkok's sky-train and Suvarnabhumi airport.

He and his sister were on the Forbes Top 50 richest list for Thailand until 2016 with an estimated US$630 million (HK$4.91 billion) fortune at the time.

Critics have said that members of the kingdom's wealthy elite have a habit of avoiding justice.

There was a public outcry when Thai authorities dropped charges against Red Bull heir Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya after he crashed his Ferrari in 2012, killing a police officer. And in September, Thailand's jailed former premier Thaksin Shinawatra had his prison sentence for graft cut from eight years to one, just days after he returned from a decade and a half in exile.