CASE CLOSED: COUNCILLOR WALKS ON DRUG CHARGES

Flimsy Evidence Cited; Asset Seizure In Doubt

A Lampang politician was acquitted yesterday of drug charges, possibly
foiling prosecution attempts to seize Bt2 billion worth of his assets
and initiate a separate trial for money laundering.

In a rebuke to prosecutors, the Criminal Court said the drugs case
against provincial councillor Phanom Sapanek was based on flimsy
evidence and unreliable witnesses.

"This court found prosecution witnesses lacked credibility and
prosecutors failed to reenact how the alleged crimes were committed,"
the court said in its verdict. Phanom's lawyer, Sirisatawat Worakul,
had earlier contended that the litigation was politically motivated.

At the height of the government's war on drugs last year, Phanom was
arrested during a highprofile raid. He was accused of being a major
drug trafficker and his assets were impounded.

He and his wife, Pimporn Kruafu, were prosecuted on charges relating
to the possession of 100,000 methamphetamine tablets, a trafficking
conspiracy with drug convict Thaweesak Kongsiri and the illegal
transport of heroin for a drug kingpin.

Pimporn was tried in absentia after failing to report to police.

The prosecution contended that Phanom and Pimporn last year jointly
had the illicit drugs in their possession with intent to sell, were
paid Bt3 million by drug lord Laota Saenli to transport heroin from
Chiang Mai to Songkhla in 2001 and had conspired with Thaweesak to
traffic drugs in 2000.

In its verdict, the court said prosecutors failed to link the 100,000
methamphetamine tablets to the two defendants.

The prosecution witness who testified that he saw an employee of
Phanom transporting a box of methamphetamine to Khon Kaen in 1992, was
an exemployee dismissed for misconduct, the court noted, and he made
no mention about the drugs uncovered last year.

To support their conspiracy charge, the court said, prosecutors took a
statement from a convict serving a threeyear jail term and produced no
corroborating evidence.

The court noted that a prosecution witness recounted in vivid detail
how the two defendants met Laoli, but the drug kingpin insisted he had
never met them.

The witness's testimony was not corroborated by any evidence that the
heroin transfer had indeed taken place. Phanom's lawyer Sirisatawat
said the verdict would pave the way for him to clear his client's name
in all cases, including the assets seizure.

Chief prosecutor Surasak Trirattrakul said Phanom was also a target in
a moneylaundering investigation.