BANGKOK
A disgraced former high-ranking police official fell further from grace Thursday when Bangkok criminal court added an additional 2-1/2 years to his previous 31-year sentence.
General Pongpat Chayapan - the one time second most powerful police officer in Thailand, and uncle of former princess Srirasmi - had already been sentenced in February to 31 years and nine months jail for a range of offenses, including lese-majeste, bribery and money laundering.
Thursday's sentence - for illegal acquisition of 51 ancient artifacts - leaves him with a cumulative jail term of 33 years and three months.
The antiquities, some of them ancient Khmer statues suspected to have originated from Cambodia's famed Angkor region, have been placed under state supervision.
In the wake of a corruption scandal last November, Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn - the husband of Princess Srirasmi - was forced to strip several family members of their royal family name.
Srirasmi, the crown prince's third wife, was then “authorized" to resign from the family a few days later.
It is not clear if Vajiralongkorn has formally divorced Srirasmi.
The couple has a nine-year-old boy, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, who is understood to no longer live with his mother.
Due to Thailand’s strict lese majeste laws, local media were forced to report with extreme caution on the scandal.
Initially they were unable to even mention the connection between Chayapan and Srirasmi.
The law punishes offenders with jail terms of between three to 15 years.
