A court in Thailand has sentenced two owners of a seafood restaurant to 1,446 years in prison each for defrauding the public.
Report says that a restaurant known as Laemgate seafood restaurant somewhere in Thailand launched a pay-in-advance food promotion online in 2019 and about 20,000 people purchased 50 million Thai baht (which is £1.2m or $1.6m) worth of vouchers. However, the demand was too high and the restaurant was shut down.
The owners, Apichart Bowornbancharak and Prapassorn Bowornbancha were arrested after complains from dissatisfied customers. The sentence given to the owners is not uncommon for those found guilty of fraud in Thailand especially because of the number of complaints received.
One of the promo deals had an offer of a seafood meal at 880 baht for 10 persons (which is far cheaper than their usual prices).
Initially, those who bought the vouchers were able to claim their meals at the restaurant but a long waiting list meant an advance booking of up to several months, according to Thai PBS. This led to the company’s (Laemgate Infinite) announcement of its closure, with claims of not being able to get hold of enough seafood to meet the demand. There was an attempt to refund costumers who had bought the vouchers; and about 375 out of 818 customers who complained got their money back.
Hundreds later filed complaints against the company and its co-owners for fraud..
They were found guilty on 723 counts on Wednesday and sentenced to 1,446 years in jail each.
They pleaded guilty and their sentences were cut by half to 723 years each. They will in fact only be serving a maximum of 20 years which is, by Thai Law, the limited jail time for public fraud.
Their company, Laemgate Infinite, was also fined 1.8m baht, and the co-owners and the company was ordered to refund 2.5m baht in damages to the victims.
