The founder of Thailand’s biggest wind power firm can recover more than $800 million over allegations he faced political pressure and was forced to sell his shares at a massive discount after he fled to Europe, a London judge ruled.
(Bloomberg) — The founder of Thailand’s biggest wind power firm can recover more than $800 million over allegations he faced political pressure and was forced to sell his shares at a massive discount after he fled to Europe, a London judge ruled.
Holding companies of Nopporn Suppipat, who started Wind Energy Holding Co Ltd. in 2006, can recover the damages from the industrialist Nop Narongdej, ex-chairman of the KPN Group, as well as a handful of senior managers who betrayed Nopporn in exchange for bribes.
The senior managers at Wind Energy Holding took the “incentive” and conspired in an asset stripping scheme that helped Nop avoid payment obligations, Judge Neil Calver said in the High Court ruling published this week.
“The WEH managers did the very thing which Mr. Suppipat trusted them not to do,” he said.
The ruling on the dispute involving Wind Energy Holding’s shareholders will not affect the company, its Chief Executive Officer, Nuttpasint Chet-Udomlap, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Nopporn, who fled Thailand criminal charges in 2014 and lives as a political refugee in France, had alleged Nop along with Siam Commercial Bank, induced him to sell shares at unfair price. The founder was paid $176 million for shares that were worth around $1.6 billion in October last year, the ex-CEO’s lawyers argued at a trial last year.
Nopporn was accused of several criminal offenses in Thailand including insulting the King and Queen. Charges he says are politically motivated that forced him to flee Thailand overnight in 2014.
Lawyers for Siam in the UK declined to comment while attorneys for Nopporn and Nop didn’t respond to requests for comment. Siam Commercial Bank last year said the case was misconceived.
–With assistance from Anuchit Nguyen.
(Updates with the Wind Energy Holding’s CEO statement in the fifth paragraph.)
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