Section 34: Forfeiture of bribes and rewards
Statutory text (Thai original)
บรรดาทรัพย์สิน (๑) ซึ่งได้ให้ตามความในมาตรา ๑๔๓ มาตรา ๑๔๔ มาตรา ๑๔๙ มาตรา ๑๕๐ มาตรา ๑๖๗ มาตรา ๒๐๑ หรือมาตรา ๒๐๒ หรือ (๒) ซึ่งได้ให้เพื่อจูงใจบุคคลให้กระทำความผิด หรือเพื่อเป็นรางวัลในการที่บุคคลได้กระทำความผิด ให้ริบเสียทั้งสิ้น เว้นแต่ทรัพย์สินนั้นเป็นของผู้อื่นซึ่งมิได้รู้เห็นเป็นใจด้วยในการกระทำความผิด
English translation
All property:
(1) that has been given under Section 143, Section 144, Section 149, Section 150, Section 167, Section 201, or Section 202, or
(2) that has been given to induce a person to commit an offense, or as a reward for a person having committed an offense,
shall be wholly forfeited, except where such property belongs to another person who did not connive in the commission of the offense.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 34 targets the corrupting money or property behind an offense: item (1) forfeits things given in the bribery and official-misconduct offenses listed (Sections 143, 144, 149, 150, 167, 201, 202), and item (2) forfeits anything given to induce an offense or reward its commission. Like Section 32 the forfeiture is mandatory ('shall be wholly forfeited'), but it preserves the innocent-owner exception. It complements Section 33, which covers instrumentalities and proceeds, by reaching the inducement and reward side of a transaction.
Why this matters in practice
Money handed over as a bribe or as a reward for committing an offense is subject to mandatory forfeiture under Section 34, so it will not be returned to the giver. This commonly reaches cash used in bribery of officials or handed over to procure a crime. The only escape is the innocent-owner exception: property of a third party who did not connive is not forfeited, and such an owner may pursue return under Section 36.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 6323/2557 (2014)
Money given as a reward to induce the commission of an offense is property subject to forfeiture under Section 34.
The prosecution sought forfeiture under Section 34 of banknotes given as a reward to induce the offense; the case illustrates that property handed over as an inducement or reward for committing a crime falls within the mandatory forfeiture of Section 34.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 25 Supreme Court decisions (1963 to 2022)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 12152/2558 (2015)
- Decision 6418/2558 (2015)
- Decision 6187/2540 (1997)
- Decision 2540/2540 (1997)
- Decision 2221/2519 (1976)
- Decision 169/2506 (1963)
- Decision 5167/2537 (1994)
- Decision 1686/2516 (1973)
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 33 20
- Section 36 13
- Section 83 8
- Section 78 7
- Section 91 6
- Section 32 5
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
Is bribe money forfeited in Thailand?
Yes. Section 34 requires forfeiture of property given as a bribe in the listed offenses or given to induce or reward a crime.
Can a reward paid to a criminal be seized?
Yes. Section 34(2) mandates forfeiture of anything given as a reward for committing an offense.
What if the money belonged to someone not involved?
Property of a third party who did not connive in the offense is not forfeited and may be reclaimed under Section 36.
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 34 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 34. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-34/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 34 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-34/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-34/"><p>All property: (1) that has been given under Section 143, Section 144, Section 149, Section 150, Section 167, Section 201, or Section 202, or (2) that has been given to induce a person to commit an offense, or as a reward for a person having…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 34 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-34/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.