BANGKOK — While Friday was dominated by the vanishing act of his former boss, former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom was sent to jail Friday on a 42-year sentence handed down by the Supreme Court.

Boonsong was sentenced for conspiring with officials and businessmen in a fraudulent export deal with unauthorized Chinese state firms to resell rice bought from farmers under an agricultural subsidy program. Despite being passed off as a government-to-government transaction to skirt transparency and open bidding, the rice ended up in the hands of domestic rice sellers.

Full story: khaosodenglish.com

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen
Khaosod English