Thailand’s Immigration Police have detained a former Indian banker of the Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) Mr. Rakesh Saxena following his release from prison. He will be held in Bangkok’s Immigration detention center until he is deported.
He was detained by Immigration police for deportation at the Medical Correctional Institution on Monday. He was subsequently transported to the Police General Hospital for a medical examination, during which the physicians determined that he was in good health to travel.
Saxena 72, was responsible for the BBC bank’s collapse through mismanagement of huge under-collateralize loans in 1995 that created the Asian “Tom Yam Kung” financial crisis.
Immigration police are currently in the process of coordinating with the Indian Embassy in Bangkok to facilitate his deportation.
Saxena was convicted of embezzling funds from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) from 1994 to 1996 while serving as an adviser to the late Mr. Krirkkiat Jalichandra, the bank’s president at the time.
According to estimates, he embezzled approximately US$75 million, which contributed to the bank’s failure and triggered a system-wide collapse, ultimately contributing to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Mr. Saxena subsequently retreated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he was apprehended in July 1996. He incurred the costs of his 12-year home detention by embezzling funds from the bank.
In November 2008, a Canadian court authorised his extradition following a protracted extradition dispute. He was subsequently transported to Thailand to face trial.
In connection with illicit loans granted to City Trading Corp totaling 1.6 billion baht, the Bangkok South Criminal Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison, ordered him to pay a fine of one million baht, and directed him to return 1.13 billion baht to the bank in June 2012.
In September 2022, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s judgement and sentenced him to a total of 335 years in prison, as well as a fine of 33.5 million baht. His lawyers appealed the decision.
In three cases presented under the Securities and Exchange Commission Act, the court also ordered him to pay 2 billion baht in damages to the parties involved.
He received regal clemency on July 28, 2018, in honour of His Majesty the King’s sixth-cycle birthday, following a 15-year sentence in prison.
Age-related illness necessitated his transfer to the Medical Correctional Institution, where he remained until his Monday release.
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