Two Thais face death for murder of Australian

BANGKOK, Sep 5 (Reuters) A Thai court sentenced two Thai men to death and another to life in prison today for the 1999 murder of an Australian accountant while he was restructuring the debt of a Thai sugar mill.

The court acquitted mill director Pradit Siriwiriyakul of hiring gunmen to kill Michael Wansley, 58, from Melbourne, who prosecutors said had uncovered the disappearance of large sums of money supposed to have been paid to cane farmers.

There had been phone calls between Pradit and the killers on the day of the murder, but there was no proof they were about the assassination, he said.

However, the court sentenced Pradit's aide Boonpan Suthiwiriwan to life in jail for hiring Somchoke Suthiwiriwan and Sompong Buasakul as part of the hit squad.

They were condemned to death for conspiring to kill Wansley, shot eight times in March 1999 while riding in the back of a van on his way to the sugar mill in the central province of Nakhon Sawan.

They face execution by lethal injection and there was no immediate word on whether they would appeal.

The actual gunman is being tried separately, but the driver of the motorcycle from which he shot Wansley has already been sentenced to life in jail.

REUTERS PB DS1401