Thai construction tycoon jailed for poaching protected animals | News

Supreme court sentences Premchai Karnasuta to two and a half years in prison without probation.

Thailand’s supreme court has sentenced construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta to two and a half years in prison without probation on charges related to the poaching of protected animals, a prosecutor told Reuters news agency.

Premchai, president of Thai construction company Italian-Thai Development, was found guilty on Wednesday of possessing a firearm without a permit, enabling poaching and possessing the carcass of a protected animal, said prosecutor Phanomrit Homnitsakul.

Premchai’s accomplices were also sentenced to 33 and 37 months in jail.

In 2019, a provincial court originally found Premchai guilty of poaching charges and sentenced him to 16 months in prison.

The lower court originally ordered Premchai and a huntsman, Thani Thummas, to pay a fine of 2 million baht…