Wirach Ratanasate: Former government enforcer pays penalty for futsal scandal

If politics is a game, then Wirach Ratanasate has finally been penalised for foul play. On July 31, the veteran politician was convicted of corruption involving a 4.4-billion-baht project to build futsal pitches in 56 Northeast schools.

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced him to four years and six months in prison for siphoning state budget from the Education Ministry.

Lawmakers are barred from meddling in budget allocation to prevent them from buying voter support.

Wirach, 67, was freed on 400,000-baht bail and has 30 days to lodge an appeal. The top court will then appoint a nine-judge committee to decide whether to accept the appeal.

Substandard futsal pitches

The verdict came four years after Wirach, his wife Tasaneeya, her sister Tasanaporn Ketmeteekarun, and dozens of school directors and local education officials were indicted in September 2021.

Tasaneeya was sentenced to three years and four months, Tasanaporn and several local politicians received smaller jail terms for malfeasance, and others got suspended sentences for minor roles in the scandal.

The case stemmed from a four-year investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). It found that in 2012, Wirach and his wife — then ruling Pheu Thai MPs in Nakhon Ratchasima — colluded with Tasanaporn, who headed a local administrative organisation, to push local education authorities into procuring futsal pitches.

The pitches were later deemed unfit for use due to substandard construction, while investigators discovered irregularities and bias in the selection of contractors for the project.

By the time they were indicted four years ago, Wirach, his wife and her sister had defected and become MPs of the Palang Pracharath Party, core of the coalition government led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha. Wirach also served as the party’s deputy leader and government chief whip.

Wirach lashed out at the NACC, accusing the agency of negligence in its probe, before he and his wife and sister-in-law were suspended from Parliament when the trial began in November 2021.

Leaving Palang Pracharath

Wirach stepped down from all his party roles last September after Palang Pracharath was excluded from the Pheu Thai-led government coalition. He and his family members later left Palang Pracharath, which now sits in opposition.

Wirach was born on May 29, 1958, in Nakhon Ratchasima, where he would go on to be elected as an MP five times.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s in political science from Ramkhamhaeng University. He entered Parliament in 1986 at just 28, winning election as an MP in his home province.

Before joining Palang Pracharath in 2018, Wirach had hopped between four political parties, including Pheu Thai for seven years between 2011 and 2018.

He served as deputy agriculture minister in Chuan Leekpai’s government from November 1997 to October 1999.

In 2018, he defected from Pheu Thai – whose government was ousted in the 2014 coup – to join the military-backed Palang Pracharath. He took along his wife, her sister, and two of his three sons, all of whom won Nakhon Ratchasima seats in the 2019 general election.

Wirach served as the government chief whip in the House of Representatives under the Prayut administration between December 2019 and November 2021.

He and his wife Tasaneeya declared assets of 123.2 million baht, including 18 million in bank deposits and 19 land plots valued at over 77 million, according to the NACC.

Their eldest son, Atirat, served as deputy transport minister in Prayut’s government, while their youngest son, Tatirat, a non-MP, became his brother’s secretary.

Atirat and the second son, Thawirat, both declared more wealth than their parents. Atirat and his wife reported combined assets of 176.2 million baht, while Thawirat and his spouse have over 230 million.