Expat Oil Worker Alastair 'Ally' Cooper indicted under Thailand's Computer Crimes Act

Pattaya, 27th August 2015

Ally Cooper - indicted on Computer Crimes charges

An expat oil worker who has part time residence in Thailand has been indicted under Thailand's tough Computer Crimes Act.
Alastair 'Ally' Cooper was in Court 3 of Pattaya Provincial Court to face an indictment containing approximately 80 criminal charges which are a mixture of defamation, insult by publication and Computer Crimes Act charges.

In a case file by Drew Noyes, Cooper was indicted on the basis that convicted criminal and wanted fugitive Andrew Drummond had named him as a 'supporter' of Drummond's blog and therefore able to be jointly prosecuted with Drummond.

In case number 5746/2557 Cooper will face a range of charges, some in his own right and some jointly with Drummond - a warrant for Drummond's arrest was issued in this case in July of this year.

Drummond - implicated Cooper

Lawyers for Noyes said privately that this case would never have been able to proceed had Drummond not implicated Cooper - Drummond of course absconded whilst on bail from Thailnd earlier this year leaving Cooper to face the charges alone.

Initially Cooper's lawyer sought to adjourn in the basis that he had only recently been appointed, however the Court advised no adjournment would be allowed and would give Cooper a few minutes to get to the Court room before issuing an arrest warrant.

A somewhat bemused Cooper arrived a few minutes later and was told via his Thai wife who acted as an interpeter that he had to lodge a bail band of THB 100,000 (GBP 2,000) with the Court, surrender his passport and was told he  would not be allowed to travel overseas without the permission of the Court.

Cooper was held in detention cells while his bail was processed and released around 1700 hrs.

Sources say Cooper has been sought by Noyes and others for some time and at least two other cases failed to proceed amidst claims that Cooper was not resident in Thailand - a defence he negated by himself when he filed civil and criminal charges against Noyes along  with Brian Goudie and David Hanks.

Goudie was in Court today in company with police officers who were waiting to arrest Drummond if he appeared as Goudie had arrest warrants for Drummond issued in case numbers 1269/2556 and 1826/2556 in Koh Samui Provincial Court.

Further cases are expected to be waiting for Cooper on his next appearance.

Cooper was not required to enter a plea and was remanded on bail to appear on October 19th.

#andrewdrummond #allycooper