Image: Mr. Anusart Sonsilpong, President of the Khon Kaen Teacher’s Savings Cooperative
The Khon Kaen Provincial Court has scheduled a ruling on the case involving Ekarat Changlao, a party-list MP from the Phum Jai Thai Party, for embezzling 431 million baht from the Khon Kaen Teacher’s Savings Cooperative on December 18, 2024. Ekarat returned immediately after the court hearing on October 7, 2024.
Mr. Anusart Sonsilpong, the cooperative’s president, spoke to reporters after the court’s hearing, stating that the court proceedings commenced at 2:30 PM and continued into the evening. Ekarat had previously confessed to the charges but has since retracted that confession to fight the criminal case, which involves significant financial discrepancies dating back from 2011 to 2018.
The case arose while Ekarat was the manager of the cooperative, where he concealed embezzlement by falsifying financial records, leading to a reported shortfall of over 431 million baht. This scheme was carried out from August 2011 to August 2019 and occurred under the ethical guidelines established in 2018, while Ekarat has served as an MP since March 24, 2019.
The court noted Ekarat’s prior confession, financial restitution since 2022, and his confirmation of the confession. The ruling on the case will be delivered on December 18, 2024, at 9 AM.
Anusart also mentioned that the defendant claimed he would sell land to compensate the cooperative, with potential buyers reportedly offering 300 million baht. However, he asserted that this was merely a defendant’s claim without sufficient evidence, stating it doesn’t impact the cooperative directly.
“The land sale is just an excuse from the defendant and is unrelated to the cooperative. The defendant has chosen to contest the criminal charges, but the court did not accept this, leading to the scheduled ruling,” he said, noting that Ekarat had already repaid over 100 million baht of the total debt but still owed 19 million baht in interest.
After the court proceedings, Ekarat promptly left in a van.
This article was rewritten from a Thairath’s news article.
