Thai ex-PM guilty of corruption

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by Editor


Thaksin Shinawatra - 21/09/2008
Thaksin Shinawatra has been living in the UK

Thailand's fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra has been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to two years in prison by the Thai Supreme Court.

In a landmark ruling, he was found to have violated conflict of interest rules in helping his wife buy land from a state agency at a knock-down price.

The couple fled to the UK in August, saying they would not get a fair trial.

The decision comes amid growing tension between the former leader's supporters and his opponents.

The ruling is the first in a string of stalled and slow-moving cases against Thaksin, former owner and now honorary chairman of Manchester City Football Club, launched in the wake of the 2006 military coup.

The coup leaders claimed there had been massive corruption and abuse of power under Thaksin's rule, and set up a special unit to investigate the business dealings of the former leader and his close associates.

His wife, Pojaman, was convicted of tax evasion in July and sentenced to three years in jail but was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the current case.

Political tensions

The nine-member court ruled by five to four that Thaksin had violated the constitution in involving himself in the land deal.

"Thaksin had violated the article of the constitution on conflict of interest, as he was then prime minister and head of government who was supposed to work for the benefit of the public," one judge said as he read the verdict.

CASES AGAINST THAKSIN FAMILY
Case one: Corruption charges related to purchase of state land by his wife. Who: Thaksin and his wife. Status: Thaksin guilty, wife acquitted
Case two: Abuse of power linked to government lottery scheme.Who: Thaksin and several former Cabinet ministers. Status: Case accepted by Supreme Court
Case three: Abuse of power related to state loan to Burma alleged to have benefited family business. Who: Thaksin. Status: Case accepted by Supreme Court
Case four: Concealing assets.Who: Thaksin, wife and two others. Status: Awaiting court decision on proceeding to trial
Case five: Tax evasion. Who: Members of Thaksin's family.Status: Pojaman Shinawatra and her brother jailed for three years, her secretary for two years
Several other claims also lodged

The case stems from Pojaman's purchase in an auction of about 13 acres (five hectares) of prime land in central Bangkok in 2003 for 772 million baht ($22.4m).

The land was bought from the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), a government agency that had been set up to bail-out debt-ridden banks.

The FIDF had taken ownership of the land in 1995 to cover the losses of the collapsed Erawan Trust.

Prime ministers and their spouses are barred from doing business with government agencies.

Thaksin, who was prime minister from 2001-2006, said the charges were politically motivated and that he had expected the Supreme Court to sentence him, Reuters news agency reported. He told Reuters he was not seeking asylum in the UK.

The chief prosecutor in the case said he wanted Britain to "quickly extradite" Thaksin.


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7681416.stm

3 comments:

antithaksin said...

Thailand has been under two civillian governments for nine months now when this monumental verdict has come out.

Though Thaksin always claim they are democratically elected,
the two governments have been purely corrupt and got majority in the house through vote-buying. They have been on the retreat by PAD's rally.

The courts however, needs PAD's backing to stand against Thaksin's bribery and threats by Thaksin's militant's wing UDD, the red gang.
see How and WHY in www.ANTITHAKSIN.com

antithaksin said...

This is one of the best verdicts from various supreme courts of Thailand which include the verdict on ex-PM Samak’s conflict of interests, Thai Rak Thai Party’s Dissolution on top of another best one from the lower criminal court in Potjaman’s tax frauds

(1) This verdict has set a standard for the cabinets, not to be personally involved or influence in the state’s deals by any means. ( From now on, Thai politicians have to be very careful with their declaration of their assets, their family’s deal with the state and any conflict of interests with the state. Any crooks will have to keep an eye on their taxes while hiding their corrupted money.)

(2) It has obviously and definitely disproved Thaksin Shinawatra’s lies, accusing the courts not providing fair trials for his family.
First, the verdict, strictly followed the laws, was duly postponed for a month because of the absence of the two accused who had fled to UK.
Second, the court justly acquited Potjaman from all charges because she is not a government officer.
Third, the court justly lifted the charge of the violation of No.157 criminal laws as Thaksin was not the officer who directly carried out the land auction process.
However, the jail sentence would certainly urge the crooked Thaksin’s cronies to retaliate against the courts (such as an explosion at the house of the Chief Administrative Court Judge the night before.) as well as the hasty attempt by Somchai to amend the constitution to launder Thaksin Shinawatra’s family.

(3) Moreover, this verdict has indirectly proved that, even against the two dictator civillian governments under Thaksin, eventually came the brother-in-law Somchai, the Courts are independent as well as the state is stable enough. This could disprove the fabricated lies in the Shinawatras’ application forms for asylum in UK.

(see WHY and HOW in www.ANTITHAKSIN.com)

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