Thai film festival pair face court in the US

LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury has indicted husband and wife Film Festival Management executives Gerald and Patricia Green for allegedly bribing a senior Thai government official into awarding them lucrative contracts to run the Bangkok International Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter said the indictment charges the Greens with one count of conspiracy to bribe a foreign public official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as six other counts of violating the FCPA.

The conspiracy and FCPA violations each carry a maximum of five years in federal prison.

The Greens were initially charged December 7 by the government and arrested December 17. The government then took the case to a federal grand jury, which bypasses any preliminary hearing in which the defence is able to cross-examine government witnesses and put on their own witnesses.

According to the grand jury indictment, between 2002 and 2007, Gerald Green, 75, and Patricia Green, 42, funneled more than US$900,000 to a Thai official who was president of the Bangkok film fest and governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand at the time.

In exchange, the governor was able to influence awarding the Bangkok festival contracts to the Greens, which included funds of more than US$7 million.

Although not named in court documents, the government official in question is believed to be former festival president Juthamas Siriwan, who also was the tourism authority governor at that time.

Siriwan has denied the allegations in the Asian media. In December, she resigned as deputy leader of her political party amid the accusations.

The Greens formed Film Festival Management in 2003 to bid for festival management contracts. Besides Bangkok, the company has managed several international festivals, according to its Web site, including Berlin, Cannes and Toronto.

Patricia Green’s attorney, Marilyn Bednarski, said her client would plead not guilty at her and her husband’s arraignment in Los Angeles.

“I saw the indictment, and I disagree with it,” Bednarski said. “We believe there will be a big battle ahead.”

Hollywood Reporter said the indictment also charges the couple with creating various business entities, some with fake addresses and telephone numbers, to hide large amounts of money being paid to them under the contracts with the TAT.

Bednarski said she and Gerald Green’s attorney, Jerome Mooney, have not received any of the government’s evidence, including the identities of the witnesses who testified at the closed grand jury proceedings. “It’s a one-sided process,” she said.

“These are really good people who do fine, professional work,” she added. “They are very well respected, and the claims being made are completely inconsistent with them and their past.”

Both TAT and Thai police have launched separate investigations into the allegations but it is believed neither has been able to substantiate the allegations so far. Their investigations are continuing amid calls for the process to be speeded up in light of the US court proceedings.

TravelMole understands that the police probe is also looking at other contracts signed on behalf of TAT for promotions and events