RIYADH, 30 June 2006 — Thailand sentenced a former police commissioner to 20 years in jail yesterday for his complicity in the high-profile Saudi gems and jewelry theft case. The court decision is likely to put the era of strained relations behind and promote ties between Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

Chalor Kerdthet, former police commissioner of Thailand, who was in charge of investigating the $20-million jewelry theft case, was jailed for embezzlement yesterday. The diplomatic relation between Saudi Arabia and Thailand were downgraded to charge d’affaires level because of the cases.

“This sentence pronounced by a Thai criminal court in the 1989 case will help boost relations between Riyadh and Bangkok,” said Mohammed Lutfee, a spokesman for the Thai Embassy, here yesterday.

Mohammed Lutfee said that former police commissioner Chalor was accused of embezzling the Saudi gems along with eight other defendants. In Thailand, embezzlement is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in jail and Chalor has been given the maximum penalty.

The Bangkok-based court said that former cop was found guilty in a trial, which spanned 13 years. “Chalor’s team arrested the original thief, Kriangkrai Techamong, in 1990 and he was later jailed,” said the embassy spokesman.

Kriangkrai, who stole the pieces from a Saudi palace, was working as a cleaner. But, when the jewelry was returned to Riyadh, Saudi officials said only 25 percent of it was genuine. The embassy spokesman said that, “Chalor himself came to Riyadh to return the jewelry at that time.”

But, it was discovered later that this former police commissioner himself became involved in the case. Assigned as chief investigating officer in the theft case in 1990, the former police commissioner committed a series of crimes, including abduction, murder, ransom demands and a range of other serious offenses, including evidence tampering.

The case became more complex when four Saudi diplomats were murdered in Bangkok at the same time in 1989. Investigations into both the murders and the theft grounded to a halt after several years until Thai police announced in 1999 again that they have reopened both cases and new leads were being followed. But, the two cases — the theft case and the murder case — are still not fully solved to satisfy the Saudi officials or even senior Thai officials.

In March, an appeals court of Thailand also handed down death sentence to Chalor for murders in another related case, overturning an earlier sentence by the lower court of life imprisonment. The evidence clearly showed that Chalor was behind the murders of the wife and eight-year-old son of Santi Srithanakhan, a jeweler and key witness in the case. At that time, Chalor was found guilty of planning the pair’s abduction and murder with the intent of concealing his crimes and those of his associates, as accused by the prosecutors.

In fact, the case has become more complex. The case involves some 50 witnesses and eight defendants along with thousands of documents. Hence, a lot of time is needed by the concerned courts to solve the Saudi cases once for all. But, the delay has caused strained relations between the two countries, which has further worsened over the years.

In recent years, however, the two countries reported substantial growth in their trade relations. The total Saudi-Thai trade exceeds $2.9 billion annually.