BANGKOK -- Movie exec Gerald Green and his wife Patricia have been arrested and charged with corruption in a Los Angeles federal court in a case concerning the Bangkok Int'l Film Festival.
The Greens were arrested on Dec 7 and details of the case were unsealed on Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department said that the complaint alleges that the Greens conspired to make $1.7 million in bribery payments to a Thai government official in order to obtain contracts worth more than $10 million to manage the Bangkok fest and other events between 2003 and 2007.
The Department did not name the official in its press release, but clearly identifies the ultimate recipient of the bribes as the President of the BKKIFF and the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand during that period.
Juthamas Siriwan served as the governor of TAT between 2003 and 2006, and headed the festival during that time. She is now running for a parliamentary seat in the Dec 23 general election as a representative of the Puea Pandin Party.
An accompanying FBI affidavit identifies some 41 payments that were made to the Governor's daughter, who was not an official of the festival.
The Greens owned and operated Film Festival Management, a LA-based business that was formed in 2003 specifically to bid for the festival management contract. The affidavit says that FFM retained the contract each year until 2007 following a government coup and the Governor's departure from office.
The complaint also alleges that the Greens attempted to conceal their bribery using different business entities, some with dummy business addresses and telephone numbers, in order to hide the large amount of money the Greens were being paid under the contracts; and by making 'commission' payments to the Governor through the foreign bank accounts of intermediaries.
If proven, the conspiracy and charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act each carry a maximum of five years in prison.
That Thai anti-graft agency has been extremely busy investigating cases involving associates of the deposed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is not clear whether the agency co-operated with the FBI in the Green investigation or whether it will bring its own charges against Siriwan.
Pornsiri Manoharn took over the TAT job from Siriwan in late 2006. The deal with Film Festival Management was cancelled and the organisation of the fest's 2007 edition was transferred to a local team. The budget was also cut from Baht 200 million ($5.8 million) to less than $1.2 million.
Siriwan held a press conference Wednesday in Bangkok to face down the accusations.
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