Bangkok: The Thai government has cancelled the passport of the heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune, after he flew out of Thailand on his private plane two days before he was due to face deadly hit-and-run charges he has avoided for almost five years.
Thai police have finally issued an arrest warrant for 32-year-old Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya and notified the international police agency Interpol he is wanted on charges of causing death by reckless driving.
The case has focused attention on the impunity enjoyed by some of Thailand's rich and well-connected who are able to avoid or delay justice in the military-run country.
Since Mr Vorayuth's black Ferrari allegedly slammed into a motorcycle policeman shortly before dawn on September 3, 2012 - dragging the body several metres along a Bangkok street before speeding away - he has failed to show up in courts as the statutes of limitations ran out on key charges.
His lawyers claimed he was variously unwell or busy dealing with business overseas.
But the Associated Press, perusing more than 120 social media postings by his friends and family, found that since the accident Mr Vorayuth has flown around the world on Red Bull jets, cheered his family's Formula One racing team, stayed at luxury resorts and dined at fine restaurants.
His family, half-owners of the Red Bull empire, has an estimated wealth of more than US20 billion ($27 billion).
Airport authorities in Singapore say Mr Vorayuth arrived in the city-state days before his failure to appear in court last week, which Thai authorities said was his last chance to come forward voluntarily.
Thai police said Mr Vorayuth had left Singapore after abandoning his private jet and disappeared.
Thailand's immigration chief Nathorn Phrosunthorn told reporters Mr Vorayuth had been free to leave Thailand because no arrest warrant had been issued for him at the time.
There is no extradition treaty before Singapore and Thailand.
But he will no longer be able to enter other countries on his cancelled passport and his immigration status is invalid in whatever country he is currently visiting, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Busadee Santipitak said.
Mr Vorayuth, who was 27 at the time of the accident, faces a possible 10-year jail term for reckless driving if he is convicted before the statute of limitations expires on the charge in 2027.
A charge of failing to help a crash victim expires on September 3.
Charges of speeding and reckless driving causing damage have already been dropped because their one-year statute of limitations expired.
Thailand's social media has been flooded with comments sceptical that justice will be served in the case.
Initially Mr Vorayuth turned himself in, his father posted bail US$15,000 bail and he went home.
His lawyers subsequently said he left the scene of the accident because he wanted to tell his father what has happened.
A blood test showing he was over the legal limit was because he was "rattled" after the accident so he drank to "relieve his tenseness," his lawyers said.
The then police commissioner promised integrity in the case, saying "we will not let this police officer die without justice. Believe me."
But Chris Baker, a British historian who with his Thai wife Pasuk Phongpaichit has written extensively about inequality, wealth and power in Thailand, said he wasn't surprised Mr Vorayuth hasn't been prosecuted.
"There is most certainly a culture of impunity here that big people, which means roughly people with power and money, expect to get away with a certain amount of wrongdoing," he said.
"This happens so often, so constantly, it is clearly part of the working culture."
Thailand has one of the world's highest rates of road fatalities which the military that seized power in a 2014 coup has vowed to reduce through enforcement of new laws.
with agencies