Thailand's Appeals Court has confirmed a Bangkok jeweler’s three-year jail sentence for buying part of a 20 million dollar gem haul stolen from Saudi Arabia more than a decade ago, officials said Tuesday.
"The court handed down the verdict yesterday which sustains the jail sentence for Santi Sritanakhan," a court official said.
The saga of the Saudi Arabian heist began in 1989 when a Thai worker, Kriengkrai Techamong, stole the fortune in gems from a Saudi prince's palace, returning home with them later that year.
He was later arrested and convicted for the theft, but the case caused a major upset in Thai-Saudi relations that has still not been wholly resolved. Neither were the jewels ever fully recovered.
Four men charged here in relation to handling a batch of the stolen jewels were all handed jail terms.
The other three served out their terms but Santi was out on bail during a long judicial review – BANGKOK (AFP)
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