US couple arrested in Bangok Film Festival graft probe: justice

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A Los Angeles-based businessman and his wife have been arrested for paying 1.7 million dollars in bribes to a Thailand government official for the right to manage the Bangkok International Film Festival, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Gerald Green, 75, and his wife Patricia, 52, were arrested after a criminal complaint was filed in Los Angeles on December 7.

Investigators allege the couple conspired to pay more than 1.7 million dollars in bribes to a senior official with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to win a film festival contract and other deals worth more than 10 million dollars.

A Justice Department statement said the Greens set up a company -- Film Festival Management -- in 2003 to bid for the rights to stage the...