Film festival pair "turned TAT into a piggy bank"

       A film-making couple devised an intricate system of bribes to Thai officials in order to land lucrative projects such as the Bangkok International Film Festival, a federal prosecutor has told a US court in his opening statement at their trial.
       Gerald and Patricia Green created shell companies and paid off the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Juthamas Siriwan, by transferring money into bank accounts of Mrs Juthamas's daughter and a friend so they would be awarded business contracts,Jonathan Lopez, a senior trial lawyer with the US Department of Justice, said.
       The "bribes-for-contracts" scheme netted the Los Angeles couple about $13.5 million (460 million baht), he said.
       "This case is about greed, it's about corruption and it's about deceit," Mr Lopez told the jury composed of seven men and five women. The Greens "turned TAT into their own personal piggy bank", he said.
       The couple have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy and money laundering. If convicted, they each could receive up to life in prison.Both are free on bond.
       Mrs Juthamas has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged in the US or Thailand.
       The Greens are the first entertainment industry figures who have been charged under the Foreign Juthamas: Case was Corrupt Practices "all about greed"Act, a federal statute prohibiting corrupt payments to foreign officials for business purposes.
       Prosecutors contend the Greens paid Mrs Juthamas about 60 million baht to help secure the Bangkok film festival and tourism-related deals between 2002 and 2007.
       The payments, some of which were paid in cash to Mrs Juthamas directly,were often disguised as sales commissions, ranging from 10% to 20%, Mr Lopez said. The Greens inflated their budgets so Mrs Juthamas could be paid off, prosecutors said.
       "The simple question for you as jurors is whether all these payments to overseas accounts were bribes so they [Greens]could get the inside track for those contracts," Mr Lopez said.
       Lawyer Jerome Mooney, who represents Gerald Green, said the payments made to Mrs Juthamas's daughter were legitimate because his 77-year-old client had entered into a consulting agreement with her.
       Marilyn Bednarski, Patricia Green's lawyer, shot down Mr Lopez's contention that the couple profited heavily from the contracts. She showed jurors tax returns from 2000- before the couple ran the film festival - and from 2006,the festival's most successful year. The difference was only about $100,000(3.4 million baht), she said.
       The couple helped transform the festival into a rising star on the international circuit for screening new films, attracting the likes of Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irons and director Oliver Stone to Thailand.