Rakesh Saxena to be deported to India after Thai prison release

Rakesh Saxena, the central figure in the collapse of Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC), has been detained by police following his release from prison and will be deported to India.

The collapse of the bank in 1995, due to the mismanagement of large undercollateralized loans, marked the beginning of the Asian financial crisis known as the Tom Yam Kung crisis.

Economic crime suppression police took 72 year old Saxena, an Indian national, from the Medical Correctional Institution yesterday. He was then taken to the Police General Hospital for a medical check-up. Doctors confirmed that he did not require hospitalisation and was fit to travel.

Efforts are now underway to coordinate with Indian officials for his deportation.

Born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Saxena was convicted of embezzling funds from BBC between 1994 and 1996 while serving as an adviser to the bank’s then-president, Krirkkiat Jalichandra.

The embezzled amount was estimated at US$75 million. Charges were filed against Saxena in 1996 following the bank’s collapse in 1995.

Financial collapse

His embezzlement played a significant role in the bank’s downfall, which triggered a broader financial collapse leading to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Saxena fled to Canada and was apprehended near Vancouver in July 1996. He spent the next 12 years in home detention at a luxury condo in the city, covering all associated expenses.

Following a prolonged extradition battle, a Canadian court dismissed his objection to the extradition in November 2008, leading to his eventual return to Thailand for trial.

In June 2012, Bangkok South Criminal Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison, fined him one million baht (US$30,000), and ordered him to return 1.13 billion baht (US$33.7 million) to the bank in connection with illicit loans granted to City Trading Corp totalling 1.6 billion baht (US$47.7 million).

In September 2022, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling, sentencing Saxena to a total of 335 years in prison, fining him 33.5 million baht (US$1 million), and ordering him to return about two billion baht (US$60 million) to affected parties in three cases brought under the Securities and Exchange Commission Act. Legally, his actual sentence was capped at 20 years.

After serving 15 years, Saxena was granted royal clemency on the occasion of the sixth-cycle birthday of His Majesty the King on July 28 this year, reported Bangkok Post.

A source from the Department of Corrections stated that Saxena was initially detained at Bangkok Remand Prison pending trial before being moved to Klong Prem Central Prison. Due to age-related health issues, he was later transferred to the Medical Correctional Institution, where he remained until his release.