 On 19 June 1998, the Buriram Provincial Court handed Newin a suspended six-month jail sentence and a ฿50,000 fine in a vote-buying slander case filed by Democrat MP Karun Sai-ngam.A year later, the Constitutional Court ruled 7-6 that Newin could keep his ministerial post.Newin was acquitted in 2009 of involvement in the rubber sapling scandal for bid rigging, corruption and collusion.