Former Thai police chief arraigned for alleged cover-up of Red Bull heir's deadly traffic accident
Prosecutors in Thailand has indicted a former national police chief in connection with an alleged cover-up of a 2012 traffic accident involving the Thai heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune that killed a police officer
BANGKOK — Prosecutors in Thailand on Thursday indicted a former national police chief in connection with an alleged cover-up of a 2012 traffic accident involving the Thai heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune that killed a police officer.
Former Police Chief Gen. Somyot Poompanmuang, along with former Deputy Attorney General Nate Naksuk and six other suspects, were arraigned for conspiring to alter the recorded speed of the Ferrari driven by Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya in an effort to help him evade a speeding charge.
They were arraigned at Bangkok’s Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases.
Vorayuth escaped justice by fleeing abroad in a case widely held up as an example of how the rich and well-connected enjoy impunity in Thailand.
Police have said Vorayuth smashed his Ferrari into the back of a police officer’s motorbike around dawn on a major Bangkok road in September 2012. The officer was flung from the bike and died at the scene. Voravuth drove home and was later arrested. Medical tests showed traces of alcohol and cocaine in his bloodstream, according to police.
Vorayuth avoided further legal action by consistently failing to meet with prosecutors, while continuing for years to live a jet-set life. By the time prosecutors finally issued an arrest warrant for Vorayuth in April 2017, he had fled abroad, where he remains.
His case has been marked by numerous delays in the investigative and judicial processes, running out the clock on most of the charges involving the
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