28-2-2024 (BANGKOK) Thailand’s Attorney General has formally charged a former police chief and seven others in connection with aiding Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya in evading criminal charges following a fatal hit-and-run incident in 2012.
Ex-police commissioner Somyot Poompanmoung faces charges including wrongful exercise or negligence of duty, supporting officers in committing unlawful actions to assist Vorayuth in evading or receiving reduced punishment. The charges were announced in a statement by the Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday.
Alongside the former police chief, a former deputy attorney general and two other police officers are set to face trial on similar charges, as per the statement.
This development follows an accusation by the country’s anti-corruption agency in September, implicating them in a 2020 decision by prosecutors to drop charges against Vorayuth, which included allegations of speeding and hit-and-run. The controversial decision led to public outrage, prompting Thailand’s then-prime minister to initiate new investigations into the circumstances surrounding the case.
Vorayuth is accused of causing the death of a police officer with his Ferrari in September 2012, a charge he denies. As the grandson of Chaleo Yoovidhya, the late founder of T.C. Pharmaceutical and co-founder of the international Red Bull GmbH brand, Vorayuth hails from the second-richest Thai family with a reported net worth of $27.4 billion according to Bloomberg.
Having been on the run since fleeing Thailand in 2017, Vorayuth still faces one charge of reckless driving causing death, a charge set to lapse in 2027.
