BANGKOK, THAILAND – Thailand’s anti-corruption authority has transferred gold bars worth more than 1.5 billion baht to the Finance Ministry after the Supreme Court upheld the seizure of assets from a former tax chief.
Transfer of gold to the state
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) completed the handover of confiscated gold bars to the Finance Ministry after a final ruling by the Supreme Court in 2024 confirmed the state’s right to the assets.
Deputy secretary-general Prateep Kongsanit oversaw the formal transfer on Friday, fulfilling the terms set out in the court’s judgment.
The Treasury Department accepted the assets on behalf of the ministry and was to manage the gold as state property from now on.
Scale of the confiscated assets
The seized assets consisted of about 20,976 baht-weight of gold, equivalent to roughly 319 kilograms, which authorities valued at more than 1.5 billion baht.
The gold bars had been confiscated during a corruption case against former Revenue Department director-general Satit Rungkasiri and, following the Supreme Court decision, were deemed permanently forfeited to the state.
Classified as unusual wealth
The NACC had earlier determined that Satit possessed
“unusual wealth”
said NACC, in reference to riches that could not be explained by legal income during his time as director-general of the Revenue Department.
On 28 October 2016, the commission concluded that 15 gold purchase orders made in his name at Hua Seng Heng Commoditas Co represented assets without lawful basis arising from the exercise of his official duties.
Link to major VAT refund fraud
The confiscated gold formed part of a broader NACC investigation into fraudulent value-added tax (VAT) refund claims that caused an estimated loss of about 3.09 billion baht to the Revenue Department in 2012 and 2013.
Investigations into the scheme began in 2015 and targeted a network suspected of securing unjustified VAT refunds.
Court ruling and life sentence
In August 2021, the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases sentenced Satit to life imprisonment for manipulating a VAT refund system for the benefit of 25 companies.
The court found that he had worked with an accomplice, Supakij (Siripong) Riyakarn, then head of District Office 22 in Bang Rak, to conceal unlawful refunds for firms that were not entitled to them, causing substantial damage to the state.
Kilos of gold as a signal?
Gold bars worth more than 1.5 billion baht changed hands as the anti-corruption body transferred the confiscated wealth, following a final conviction of former tax chief Satit Rungkasiri, to the Finance Ministry.
The case raised the question of whether such consistent asset seizures sent a strong signal against corruption or whether, in major scandals, these measures often came too late.