[Global Times reporter Liu Haoran] If you have money, you can't do whatever you want! Recently, Thai construction tycoon Bingchai Janasuo's appeal against the Black Panther poaching case was rejected by the country's Supreme Court and he is about to face a career of more than three years. The flamboyant Thai tycoon sparked outrage in the country in 2018 by trespassing into animal sanctuaries, poaching panthers and slaughtering them for cooking. According to media reports, the Thai people always abhor the impunity of the elite after breaking the law, so it is of great social significance that Bing Chai is now imprisoned.
According to Thailand's "Bangkok Post" reported on the 9th, the Thai Supreme Court accepted Bingchai's appeal at the opening of the 8th, and the three defendants were present to hear the final ruling of the Supreme Court. The media noticed that Bing Chai was on crutches that day and still had a bandage around his left eye, but the cause of the injury was unknown. As a result, the Supreme Court convicted Bingchai of illegally hunting protected animals, as well as illegal possession of firearms, and upheld the second-instance judgment of three years and two months of imprisonment without probation, and fined Bingchai 2 million baht (about 380,000 yuan). As accomplices, Bingchai's driver and a hunter were also sentenced separately.
Bing Chai, 66, is the president of Thailand's ITD company, one of Thailand's largest construction and engineering companies, which was responsible for the construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport and Bangkok's public transport system. According to Forbes magazine, the Pong Chai family's net worth was about $630 million in 2016, ranking 35th on the list of "Thailand's Richest 50". In February 2018, Bing Chai led a team into a wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi Province and hunted and killed a black panther. When the group was arrested, the panther had been made into a pot of broth.
In 2019, a Thai court convicted and sentenced Bingchai and four others, and Bingchai was sentenced to 16 months in prison, but he himself, the driver and the accompanying hunters all expressed dissatisfaction and appealed until the Supreme Court. The chef responsible for cooking the "Panther Soup" was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison, but was given a suspended sentence and did not appeal. While awaiting appeal, Bing Chai was released on bail for 400,000 baht.
Reuters said that the black panther poaching case has been highly concerned by Thai society, the country's people have set off several waves of protests, black panthers were skinned and horrific photos of black panthers were spread on the Internet, demonstrators wearing black panther masks took to the streets, and black panther graffiti appeared on walls all over Bangkok. In an indignant social atmosphere, Thai media tracked down the details of the case, revealing that authorities had found stolen ivory and guns during a raid on Bingchai's home. The Court of Appeal then increased Bingchai's sentence to three years and two months.
The slaughtered Black Panther is even regarded as a cultural symbol in Thailand to satirize the undesirable social phenomenon that "the powerful can always get away with it". For example, AFP said the grandson of the founder of Red Bull Beverage in Thailand repeatedly refused to meet with prosecutors after driving a luxury car to kill a police officer in 2012, and the police dropped the charges last year. The Supreme Court's final verdict on Bingchai was unexpected, with Vic, founder of the country's Wildlife Friends Foundation, shouting "retribution is not happy," saying, "People thought that such a rich man would not sit in jail for a day after breaking the law." In fact, this case has alarmed the top level of Thai politics, and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned the public to avoid such illegal acts.
Source: Global Times
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