Section 158: Damaging property or documents in official's care
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดเป็นเจ้าพนักงาน ทำให้เสียหาย ทำลาย ซ่อนเร้น เอาไปเสีย หรือทำให้สูญหายหรือทำให้ไร้ประโยชน์ ซึ่งทรัพย์หรือเอกสารใดอันเป็นหน้าที่ของตนที่จะปกครองหรือรักษาไว้ หรือยินยอมให้ผู้อื่นกระทำเช่นนั้น ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินเจ็ดปี และปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาท หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, being an official, damages, destroys, conceals, takes away, or causes the loss of, or renders useless, any property or document which it is his duty to keep or maintain, or consents to another person doing so, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding seven years and a fine not exceeding one hundred forty thousand baht.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 158 protects the integrity of property and documents entrusted to an official's custody. Its elements are (1) being an official (2) with the duty to keep or maintain the property or document, and (3) damaging, destroying, concealing, taking away, causing the loss of or rendering it useless, or (4) consenting to another doing so. Unlike the peculation offence in Section 147, this section does not require dishonest misappropriation for personal gain; the wrong is the harm to, or loss of, items in the official's care. It overlaps with Section 147 where an official misappropriates funds he is charged to keep, and on the same facts the offences may be treated as a single act punished under the heaviest provision. Its penalty range, up to seven years and a fine, is lighter than the core corruption offences.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure is up to seven years and a fine; the offence is non-compoundable and prosecuted by the State, and the seven-year maximum places the limitation period at ten years. Because the harm to entrusted property or records is enough, an official can be exposed even without proof of personal enrichment, for example where files or evidence in his custody go missing or are destroyed. Where the same conduct also amounts to embezzlement under Section 147, expect the counts to be analysed as one act with sentencing under the heavier provision, so the practical exposure is usually driven by the Section 147 count.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 7095/2549 (2006)
Where an official misappropriates money he is charged to manage or keep, the single act can constitute Sections 147, 157 and 158 together, punished under Section 147 as the heaviest provision; separate takings from different persons on different occasions are separate offences.
The defendant received and misappropriated money from different persons on different occasions. The court held each misappropriation was a separate offence, and that on the same facts the conduct constituted Sections 147, 157 and 158 as a single act, sentenced under Section 147 as the heaviest provision.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 41 Supreme Court decisions (1962 to 2023)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 9202/2553 (2010)
- Decision 929/2537 (1994)
- Decision 6525/2534 (1991)
- Decision 4259/2531 (1988)
- Decision 2098/2530 (1987)
- Decision 645/2529 (1986)
- Decision 849/2524 (1981)
- Decision 345/2522 (1979)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 157 22
- Section 91 21
- Section 147 17
- Section 83 13
- Section 90 9
- Thai CrPC s. 158 8
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
Does Section 158 require the official to profit?
No. The offence is harming, losing or destroying property or documents in the official's care; personal enrichment is not required.
How does Section 158 interact with official embezzlement?
Where an official misappropriates funds he is charged to keep, the conduct may fit both Section 158 and Section 147, treated as a single act punished under the heavier provision.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 158 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 158. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-158/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 158 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-158/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-158/"><p>Whoever, being an official, damages, destroys, conceals, takes away, or causes the loss of, or renders useless, any property or document which it is his duty to keep or maintain, or consents to another person doing so, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding seven…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 158 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-158/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.