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The Criminal Court sentenced Sonthi Limthongkul to four months imprisonment without suspension and ordered him to pay 2 million baht in damages in a defamation case filed by Thanakorn Nanti regarding allegations of five corruption issues.
At courtroom 714 of the Criminal Court at 10:00 a.m. on 7 Apr 2023 GMT+7, the court heard the verdict in case number A.2851/2566. Thanakorn Nanti, former Thai Rak Thai MP and former Deputy Secretary-General to the Prime Minister for Political Affairs, sued Sonthi Limthongkul, founder of the Manager media group and host of Sonthi Talk, for defamation by advertising.
Today’s verdict hearing was postponed from 24 Feb because Sonthi had suffered a head injury from a fall and needed two to three weeks of medical treatment. For today’s hearing, Sonthi attended with his personal lawyer.
The court considered that on 30 Jun 2023, 2 Jul 2023, 1 Sep 2023, and 3 Sep 2023, the defendant accused the plaintiff on Sonthi Talk and through Manager media outlets of corruption in five projects: 1. purchasing palm plantation land from PTT in Indonesia; 2. involvement in a Krungthai Bank loan to EARTH shareholders causing losses to the bank; 3. involvement in oil stock corruption; 4. collusion in oil trading; and 5. involvement in proposing that PTT acquire shares in Starck. The court found that the defendant’s actions confirmed facts that, when heard by third parties, caused them to understand the plaintiff as accused, thus constituting defamation. Although the defendant claimed he did not confirm facts but pieced together information for public understanding, the court rejected this. The defendant’s actions constituted defamation under the Criminal Code sections 326 and 328 for defamation by advertising. The repeated accusations are considered a single offense and not protected as fair comment under section 326.
Regarding the plaintiff’s claim for 50 million baht in damages from lost foreign financial loans, the plaintiff did not provide evidence of how this affected business results. Investments could yield profit or loss. The court ordered the defendant to pay 1 million baht in damages plus 1 million baht for reputational harm, totaling 2 million baht.
The court ruled the defendant guilty under Criminal Code section 328 for defamation by advertising, sentencing him to six months in prison. However, his cooperation reduced the sentence by one-third, resulting in four months imprisonment without suspension. The defendant was ordered to publish the verdict in seven newspapers at his expense and to pay the plaintiff 2 million baht in damages plus 20,000 baht in legal fees. Other requests were dismissed.
Reporters noted that after the four-month imprisonment sentence without suspension, Sonthi filed a bail request with 50,000 baht as security. The court considered and granted bail pending appeal, setting bail at 50,000 baht.
According to reports from the judiciary, in defamation cases with relatively low penalties, when the court imposes imprisonment without suspension, this is due to the nature of the case, legal provisions, defense approach, and importantly, the defendant's prior imprisonment record.