According to the Insurance Journal, South Texas attorney Ray Roman Marchan has been convicted on charges related to bribing a judge for favorable rulings in court cases. He was found guilty of one count of violation of Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) as well as one count of RICO conspiracy, three counts of aiding and abetting extortion under color of official right and two counts of aiding and abetting honest services mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During the trial, federal prosecutors presented evidence that Ray paid bribes to then sitting judge of the 404th Judicial District Court, Abel Corral Limas. But wasn’t just Ray who was guilty. A total of eight defendants, including four attorneys, have entered guilty pleas in relation to the Limas investigation.
There was also evidence proving Marchan received favorable rulings in two cases in which he was appointed as ad litem attorney, Aide Fink vs Sun Valley Dusting and Juan Mancillas vs American General Insurance, federal prosecutors said.
The charges are a result of a three-year ongoing investigation being conducted by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Brownsville Police Department. Now this attorney is getting a first-hand experience to see what it’s like on the other side of the judge’s stand.
According to an index by Transparency International, Thailand is 78th in terms of corruption , the Thai government was expected to lose 1.4 billion baht from procurement of drugs and equipment in 1998, 770 million baht from iTV concession amendment in 2003 and 4.3 million baht from procurement of CTX bomb scanners in 2005.
The office of the National Anti-Corruption commission in Thailand is Thailand’s main anti-corruption agency. Corruption and bribing of public officials has been highlighted in a number high profile news stories in Thailand including the infamous Thai Film Festival case.
The Thailand Film Festival affair involved Americans bribing a Thai official so they could take control of the festival. Gerald Green and his wife Patricia, an American film producer couple bribed former Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Juthamas Siriwan to secure control of the annual event with the intent of gaining financial windfall. However, the couple were convicted under anew US law prohibiting corrupt payments to foreign officials for business purposes. Now, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been implemented into Thailand’s criminal law in order to prevent bribery of foreign officials and imposes criminal sanctions on those convicted.
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