Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, who is serving a 42-year jail term in connection with the scandal-tainted rice deal with China, will be allowed to leave Klong Prem prison for an operation at the Police General Hospital, Corrections Department chief Pol Col Narat Sawettanan said on Tuesday.
He said the department’s hospital did not have an operation room and equipment necessary to perform a surgery. He said Boonsong will have to undergo an operation for problems with spinal chord or neck bone.
However, he said that under the department’s protocol, two prison officials would be sent to accompany Boonsong at the hospital around the clock.
He said that the former commerce minister had earlier been sent to the Police General Hospital for treatment before returning to the hospital of Klong Prem prison.
Some Thai media have speculated that Boonsong is being given a special treatment in exchange for information implicating people believed to be the mastermind of the rice-pledging scheme that contributed to the downfall of the Yingluck government. Narat dismissed the possibility of someone sneaking into the hospital war for a secret meeting with Boonsong.
Boonsong was sentenced to 42 years in prison in August last year by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Posts in connection with corruption in a government-to-government rice deal with China. The deal was found out to be non-existent.
