he Supreme Court said managers of listed companies must have good corporate governance and that the wrongdoing was serious - so there was no ground for a more lenient sentence or probation, given that the defendants had used forged documents to obtain bank loans six times, for a total of Bt1.07 billion over a period of one year. In this context, the defendants deserved to get a harsh sentence for multiple counts of wrongdoing.
Back in 1997, Sondhi and other former executives violated the Securities and Exchange Commission Act by forging a document, saying it was resolution of Manager Media Group's board of directors to guarantee the Bt1.07-billion bank loan. Judges said they had misled the listed company's shareholders and other investors in the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
The lower court sentenced Sondhi and Yupin each to 85 years in jail, while Saowaluck got a 65-year sentence for violating several articles of the SEC law. But confessions by the defendants led to a maximum jail term of 20 years each.