The Ratchaburi Provincial Court on Monday handed down a prison term of four years and one month to former member of parliament Pareena Kraikupt for the illegal occupation and use of 1,700 rai of state land.
Her 665-rai commercial poultry farm occupied much of the encroached land.
The court’s judgement on the former Ratchaburi-MP was announced on Monday, with no suspension of the penalty. She was allowed release on bail pending appeal.
The 1,700 rai of land is in Ratchaburi’s Chom Bung district. Part of the land was designated for a forest reserve and the rest for distribution to landless farmers under the Agricultural Land Reform scheme, Sor Por Kor.
Announcement of the sentence was posted on the Facebook page of graft fighter Veera Somkwamkid, who registered the encroachment complaint at Chom Bung police station in 2019.
Ms Pareena was temporarily released on bail, with one million baht in cash surety, while she takes her case to the Appeal Court, according to the post.
She was banned for life from politics in 2022 by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions for breach of ethics in the occupation of state land. At the time, she was a member of the Palang Pracharath Party.
Ms Pareena’s Kraikupt family is very influential in the central province of Ratchaburi. Her late father, Thawee Kraikupt was also an MP, winning several national elections before stepping aside in favour of his daughter.