Over £230k of bribe money returned to Thailand from Jersey bank account

Wednesday 04 September 2024

More than £230,000 is being returned to the people of Thailand after bribes to secure the contract for a prestigious international film festival were traced to a Jersey bank account.

The Bangkok International Film Festival – which first ran 21 years ago – attracted a host of colourful celebrities including Catherine Deneuve, Jeremy Irons, Michael Douglas and Christopher Lee.

But it was later mired in controversy when it emerged that an American management company had bribed the former governor of the Thailand Tourism Authority Juthamas Siriwan and his daughter Jittisopa to run the event.

Inquiries into the relationship between US nationals, the late Gerald Green and his wife Patricia Martha, and the Siriwans prompted the American authorities to approach Jersey's Attorney General back in 2007, and the following year the Royal Court froze assets held in the island in Jittisopa Siriwan's name.

Two years later, the Greens were convicted of money laundering and bribery in the United States, and in 2017 the Siriwans were convicted in Thailand for their roles.

In parallel, US authorities filed civil forfeiture proceedings against Jittisopa's assets, including the Jersey-based account, securing a forfeiture order and issuing a request for mutual legal assistance in the Royal Court.

In January last year, a legal agreement was reached between the United States and Jittisopa, who agreed to withdraw her claim to the Jersey funds on the basis that a recommendation was made that the forfeited assets were transferred to the Kingdom of Thailand, the ultimate victim in the case.

Those assets were moved into the civil asset recovery fund and have now been transferred to the United States, to be returned to Thailand, under an asset-sharing agreement between the United States and Jersey.

Attorney General Mark Temple KC said: “While the funds confiscated by the Jersey authorities in the present case are understood to represent only a fraction of the total global losses which are believed to have been suffered by the Kingdom of Thailand, the successful repatriation of the funds serves to underline the commitment of the Jersey authorities to draw upon both criminal and civil powers as a means to assist its overseas partners in the global fight against corruption."