2024 Annual Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund
Part 1: A Drainpipe for Money
Our first-ever Annual Report of the Ratsadonprasong Fund for the year 2022, if you remember it, put together the story of crowdfunding during that year of emergencies when the Fund’s account balance dropped from the initial 9.9 million baht (when the Siddhi-Issara Foundation was chartered and the Fund came under its care) to the danger zone of less than 1 million baht. In the following year, 2023, when numerous cases concluded at sentencing, their bail deposits were returned and the Fund bounced back. As a result, the focus of our 2023 Annual Report shifted towards the maze of bail money alongside the maze of rules and irregularities in which various groups of people were stuck as they navigated the justice process.
Now, on this occasion of presenting our operations from last year, 2024, we begin by showing a steady account balance in the 6-10 million-baht range throughout the year. From this steadiness comes the central issue of the year: the redistribution or “draining” of funds, which shall go at a faster rate than bail returns. Most of the money redistributed has been going to detainees and their families after sentencing; the situation is such that their right to bail is no longer the answer, now that their exercise of that right to have their day in court has turned out this way.
This part includes:
– Fund Balance
– 2024 Income, Expenses & Losses
– Remaining Bail in the System
– Where Cases Are
Read Part 1 in full here.