(CTN News) – The Supreme Court affirmed former deputy commerce minister Banyin Tangpakorn’s death sentence for murdering construction tycoon Chuwong Sae Tang in 2015.
The Phra Khanong Criminal Court’s verdict on Thursday aligned with previous rulings from the Court of Appeal in August 2022 and the Court of First Instance in January 2021.
Banyin Tangpakorn , 59, was found guilty of planning to murder Chuwong, 50, and hiding the crime for his own vested interest and to avoid prosecution. According to the court, Chuwong died in a car wreck that was made to appear to be an accident.
Banyin Tangpakorn, a former police lieutenant-colonel and MP for Nakhon Sawan, served as deputy trade minister in the Samak Sundaravej government in 2008. He is also receiving a life sentence for abducting and murdering the brother of a judge who ruled over a case involving Chuwong’s death.
Banyin informed police that Chuwong was a passenger in a car he was driving after they played golf and dined together in Bangkok on June 26, 2015. He said his car collided with a tree, killing Chuwong, who was sitting in the front. He argued that the crash was an accident.
However, forensic evidence revealed Chuwong was slain, implying that Banyin Tangpakorn was responsible for the crime.
He was suspected of murdering the businessman in order to obtain a huge number of shares in the deceased’s company. They had been illegally transferred to the former minister and placed in the hands of two ladies who had close relationships with him.
Banyin and five others were imprisoned in December 2020 for kidnapping and murdering a senior judge’s brother in an attempt to convince her to drop his indictment in the share transfer case.
Wirachai Sakuntaprasoet, the elder brother of Bangkok South Criminal Court Judge Phanida Sakuntaprasoet, was kidnapped by four men outside the court on February 4, 2020. The 70-year-old was later slain, with his body burned and dumped into the Chao Phraya River near Nakhon Sawan.
Banyin Tangpakorn, one of the kidnappers, drove Wirachai from Bangkok to a forest near Khao Bai Mai, Nakhon Sawan, according to authorities.
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