Thaksin And His Wife Issued Arrest Warrants Over Ratchadapisek Land Case

[maipleur]

I realize he was corrupt, I realize he has to be accountable, but this is just a witch hunt..

If he returns to Thailand this man is in serious trouble. He did not get on with the army and many of the corrupt politcians. He wanted to keep it all to himself.

This is payback time and I fear for his safety..

Whether you like it or not, the country was in much better shape when he was in power and he implemented many revenue raisers for this country.... He implemented a tax structure that was never in place before - but he didnt pay his own share!, as he had the "right friends" at the time...

It happens every day in business across the globe and because it wasnt shared amongst the other corrupt policticians and the Junta, he will hunted down his whole life..

Run Thaksin Run!

There may be the families of a few thousand dead people albeit poor ones that do not count that did not get even the access to court time he gets now who may disagree with you, but who am I to say that a bunch of dead poor people should get in the way of someone overseeing some economic growth that we should praise while quietly turning a blind eye to some ezxtra-judicial excesses.

Which ones, the ones that were selling yaba?, the ones that were killing people in the south? I think you better read some history buddy, poor people die every day, all over the world..

If you cannot see that he was a better choice than we what have now, you might wanna stop getting hammered.

The country is in a political crisis, because the army took over. I did not say he was the best man for the job, but I know when times were happier here.

If you want to help all these poor people, head of to Darfur and do some good.. dont pick holes in my post, as even a blind man could see that what I wrote is indeed fact.

Was he perfect? No!, is he better than what we have now? YES! Is he being hunted becuase he jumped throgh loop holes and didnt share the booty? YES!

[Ricardo]

It will be interesting to see how the UK reacts, given that the current Thai govt is illegal. One would assume this is a vaild reason why extradition could not go ahead, regardless of how much the Thai govt stamps it's feet over claims of corruption.

No, No, No.

The political takeover by the junta was illegal.

The current government was surely subsequently approved by the Head of State ... and is therefore entirely legal.

And it is the courts, not the government, who have ordered DL's arrest.

[bangkokgas]

Wouldnt it be great if someone made a citizens arrest when he was in the directors box at Manchester City!

:D :D classic!!!

Who cares!! He's just going to be given asylum even if the charges escalate. Why waste time on him. Most Thais don't.

[sriracha john]

Double whammy day for Thakky..... gets an arrest warrant issued AND has even more assets frozen....

Court Approves Arrest Warrants for Exiled PM and Wife

The Assets Probe Panel issues its 11th order to freeze assets worth a total of 232 million baht, owned by the son and sister of the deposed prime minister.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court agrees to issue an arrest warrant against the deposed prime minister and his wife for not attending the first hearing on the controversial land deal in the Ratchadapisek area.

The Supreme Court's division for criminal cases against political post holders approved the Special Litigation Department's request for arrest warrants against deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman, after the couple failed to appear in court on Tuesday. The two are defendants in the controversial Ratchadapisek land deal.

The court deemed the couple's no-show an attempt to avoid the trial.

The court has re-scheduled the first trial session of the case for September 25. Before the arrest warrants were approved, the defendants' legal team reportedly submitted a petition with the court asking for the postponement of the hearing, citing that the certain address of both the accused is in the United Kingdom.

However, the court ruled that the reason cited by the lawyer is not plausible, so the request was dismissed.

At the same time, Director-General of the Special Litigation Department Seksan Bangsomboon says he will forward the arrest warrants to the Acting National Police Chief on Wednesday. The extradition of the deposed premier and his wife is under the supervision of the foreign division of the Attorney-General's Office.

Pichit Chuenban, lawyer of the deposed prime minister and his wife, insists his clients are innocent and that they will report to the court after the Council for National Security steps down from power.

Meanwhile, the Asset Examination Committee has agreed to issue its 11th asset freeze order on funds totaling 232 million baht, owned by Panthongtae and Yingluck Shinawatra, the son and sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin.

The order included the freeze of 202 million baht worth of assets owned by Yingluck, Thaksin's sister, and 12 cashier's cheques, totaling 30 million baht, belonging to Panthongtae, Thaksin's son.

The committee believes the funds are part of the revenue the Shinawatra family received from the controversial Shin Corp share sell-off.

- Thailand Outlook

================================================================================

the great family man drags his own children and relatives further down the drain

[rainman]

It really seems they don't want us to forget about Thaksin. If they would just let it be nobody would even ask about him anymore.

[sibeymai]

It really seems they don't want us to forget about Thaksin. If they would just let it be nobody would even ask about him anymore.

The thirst for revenge can not be satisfied by just forgetting about him.

[RKASA]

Thats it keep him in the paper. They are doing all this for good reason. They are from the Gov. they are here to help us. And now they are going to help themselfves by picking half the gov. for the people and gettin elected to part of the other half and have the kind of control they always wanted, but I am just glad that it for our own good, because likee dump asses reg. people can't think. I have spoken pooly of them I guess they will now have to send the police to take everything I have and accuss TRT of paying me off. I read about a system like this, it was story based in some other country around 1938.

[lannarebirth]

If indeed Thailand really wants to extradite Thaksin, it's a good bargaining chip when discussing the FBA.

Edited August 14, 2007 by lannarebirth

[Ricardo]

Which ones, the ones that were selling yaba?

Or were only alleged to be dealing, or were on someone's private hit-list, or just got in-the-way

, the ones that were killing people in the south? I think you better read some history buddy, poor people die every day, all over the world..

And this makes it OK to have mass extra-judicial killings ? I would disagree.

If you cannot see that he was a better choice than we what have now, you might wanna stop getting hammered.

In your opinion.

The country is in a political crisis, because the army took over.

Sorry, but Thaksin plunged the country into political crisis, some several months earlier, when he resigned the government in a failed-attempt to save his own skin.

I did not say he was the best man for the job, but I know when times were happier here.

The TRT Gravy-Train got derailed, people don't feel so well-off, but this was going to happen sooner or later anyway, when they ran out of easy-money.

If you want to help all these poor people, head of to Darfur and do some good.. dont pick holes in my post, as even a blind man could see that what I wrote is indeed fact.

Not myself being blind, I still don't agree, that what you wrote was fact. Opinion, yes and I would defend your right to hold that opinion, but not necessarily fact.

Was he perfect? No!, is he better than what we have now? YES! Is he being hunted becuase he jumped throgh loop holes and didnt share the booty? YES!

I agree with you that Thaksin's failure to pay any tax, on the Shin Corp sale, caused a huge popular ground-swell of resentment and disillusionment with him and his government.

[Ricardo]

Sorry - posted twice due to line-problems.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Ricardo

[RKASA]

Which ones, the ones that were selling yaba?

Or were only alleged to be dealing, or were on someone's private hit-list, or just got in-the-way

, the ones that were killing people in the south? I think you better read some history buddy, poor people die every day, all over the world..

And this makes it OK to have mass extra-judicial killings ? I would disagree.

If you cannot see that he was a better choice than we what have now, you might wanna stop getting hammered.

In your opinion.

The country is in a political crisis, because the army took over.

Sorry, but Thaksin plunged the country into political crisis, some several months earlier, when he resigned the government in a failed-attempt to save his own skin.

I did not say he was the best man for the job, but I know when times were happier here.

The TRT Gravy-Train got derailed, people don't feel so well-off, but this was going to happen sooner or later anyway, when they ran out of easy-money.

If you want to help all these poor people, head of to Darfur and do some good.. dont pick holes in my post, as even a blind man could see that what I wrote is indeed fact.

Not myself being blind, I still don't agree, that what you wrote was fact. Opinion, yes and I would defend your right to hold that opinion, but not necessarily fact.

Was he perfect? No!, is he better than what we have now? YES! Is he being hunted becuase he jumped throgh loop holes and didnt share the booty? YES!

I agree with you that Thaksin's failure to pay any tax, on the Shin Corp sale, caused a huge popular ground-swell of resentment and disillusionment with him and his government.

Was it not true that no tax is paid on cap. gain from the market shares and is it not true that it was the gov. before him that passed that l;aw and is it not true he is not charged with that yet. Could be worgwe so don't blow out on this, but if you know better please explain.

PS Taksin had a list of people he wanted dead andd the cops without using it to blackmale him just did what they were told. BBBB SSSS

Edited August 14, 2007 by RKASA

[sjaak327]

It will be interesting to see how the UK reacts, given that the current Thai govt is illegal. One would assume this is a vaild reason why extradition could not go ahead, regardless of how much the Thai govt stamps it's feet over claims of corruption.

No, No, No.

The political takeover by the junta was illegal.

The current government was surely subsequently approved by the Head of State ... and is therefore entirely legal.

And it is the courts, not the government, who have ordered DL's arrest.

There is nothing legal about this government, the constitution is the law that gives government a legal status, and that one has been abolished.

[maxx]

so you mean the previous coup, thaksin and the other PM era also illegal too. this is not the first coup you know.

[RKASA]

Thais are in no hurry, there's no reason for them to bring Thaksin back now, they can prepare their case in all details.

There's damning evidence - Thaksin's own signature authorising his wife to buy land from a government institution, he won't argue the details - so far he simply refused to recognise the court. It might backfire and bring him more charges like contempt of courts. By the time new government is in place he'll have half a dozen charges that even post-eleciton courts won't be able to clear, if he ever gets a leverage with courts again, which is unlikely in the short to medium term, even with his friends back in the government.

I was thinking the Bangkok post ran an issue that showed that four or five peolpe owned that property after the gov. auction and that the price paid by Taksin was mayby five times that amount to some other person that is not related to the first buyer. I didn't keep a copy and its been awhile I could have twisted it in my own brain by now because I really don't care that much, but I was sure it went something like that. If there is damming evidence I am going to have to go back and find that issue I missed something.

[RKASA]

It will be interesting to see how the UK reacts, given that the current Thai govt is illegal. One would assume this is a vaild reason why extradition could not go ahead, regardless of how much the Thai govt stamps it's feet over claims of corruption.

No, No, No.

The political takeover by the junta was illegal.

The current government was surely subsequently approved by the Head of State ... and is therefore entirely legal.

And it is the courts, not the government, who have ordered DL's arrest.

There is nothing legal about this government, the constitution is the law that gives government a legal status, and that one has been abolished.

But for the line in that constitution which did not allow that in the first place. It serves not useful purpose to grid that stone at this point, but purhaps re instating the constitution and an election would be a better course to follow. Forgive and move on.

[sjaak327]

so you mean the previous coup, thaksin and the other PM era also illegal too. this is not the first coup you know.

After the last coup, there was a constitution drafted, so all goverments before the coup of last September were perfectly legal and in fact democratically choosen.

[Prakanong]

this is where the Brit's headache starts; they don't want him there, they don't want to have make a call as to continued exile in the UK. If they are asked to extradite him, they won't. This will sour relations. The Brits are in a no-win situation on account of his presence.......

We have the Ruskie in Britain who Putin wants for obviously political motives and we refuse to send him back - I reckon it will be similar with Thaksin

Time will tell though

[ThaiWanderer68]

I just don't understand why they chose this case to pursue...It always seemed a lot weaker than several other possibilities..

Well there is a few reasons. First he did a no show so that make the arrest warrant happen. If you will notice the third party cases are the ones on stage. Meaning Thaksin is very good at covering his tracks, where other people are more mi pen ri about it. That attitude made it easier for the hunters to find what they were looking for. Thaksin is associated with this indirectly and that is why it came up first. He left it to others to cover it up.

Stoneman's query is very pertinent and your response does nothing to answer it.Why has this relatively mild particular charge been placed centre stage when on the face of it there are much more serious accusations to seek Thaksin's arrest? Firstly it demonstrates that the junta has not been able to identify any corruption charge which will stick and thus justify their illegal coup d'etat.Secondly, as regards the serious human rights charges, it demonstrates the connivance of those crimes by the military/feudal apparatus.

Would have thought this was obvious. One of the simplest cases to prove. From articles quoted:

"Under the National Counter Corruption provisions, the then premier was prohibited from making any contracts or becoming party in any contract or transaction with state agencies because he could gain benefits or losses from his actions. Mr. Thaksin's wife Pojaman, likewise, was prohibited from becoming party or seeking benefit improperly" ....The charges involve a Bt772-million ((23.4 million U.S. dollars) sale of land in Bangkok's Ratchadaphisek area from the Office of the Financial Institutes Development Fund to the wife of the then prime minister. The former prime minister has been accused of abusing his power by being party to buying the 33-rai plot of land at an unusually favourable price.

His wife bought from FIDF = state agency. Open. Shut.

Then again when he first started in office, the rule was you were supposed to declare your assets. Thaksin didn't. Somehow found not guilty. Seemed black and white to me bak then again. If they'd applied the simple laws in the first place a few years ago, they could have spared everyone the hassle of the few years in between.

Just a shame he didn't buy and ruin ManU instead...

[Prakanong]

He aint worried loads of money and a great big house in Park Lane london

The Park lane property is an apartment & if memory serves the land is owned by The Duke of Westminster.

Regards

Yeah - the big house is in Surrey and he does not need a company or to have it in his wifes name ROFL

[sibeymai]

"The former prime minister has been accused of abusing his power by being party to buying the 33-rai plot of land at an unusually favourable price."

As I read the law as it is quoted Thaksin and his wife still broke the law even if they paid above market value for the land. I agree this is probably one of the simplest cases to prove against Thaksin. Once he's in jail it will be much harder for him to defend or obstruct subsequent charges.

[RKASA]

Did she buy it direactly from the FIDF, did she write them a check send them a deposit sign a contract with the FIDF? Just asking I don't know for sure.

[KireB]

Imagine you're a British Football Club and you were just bought by a 'criminal'.

[RKASA]

Imagine you're a British Football Club and you were just bought by a 'criminal'.

Imagine you're the seller ka ching

[ajarnmark]

Imagine you're a British Football Club and you were just bought by a 'criminal'.

And where did you get this enlightenment?

Dont we always assume, innocent till proven guilty. Are you are trying to set some new trend?

[Robert Wilde]

Does anybody know for sure there is no extradition treaty between the U.K. and Thailand? If there is ni no treaty, he's safe, isn't he?

Robert Wilde

[SWW]

If you really want to see some fireworks, what if he claims asylum in the UK, claiming that his life is in danger if he returns to Thailand?

Just speculating ...

[sibeymai]

If you really want to see some fireworks, what if he claims asylum in the UK, claiming that his life is in danger if he returns to Thailand?

Just speculating ...

To be credible Thaksin would have needed to apply for asylum before the arrest warrants were issued.

Edited August 14, 2007 by sibeymai

[Plus]

Did she buy it direactly from the FIDF, did she write them a check send them a deposit sign a contract with the FIDF? Just asking I don't know for sure.

The plot was auctioned in two rounds, and in the end his wife bought it from FIDF, and there is Thaksn's signature on bank forms approving the purchase (evidence supplied by anonimous whistle blower).

Thaksin's argument was that he didn't oversee FIDF in person so the rule doesn't apply. AEC spent quite some time on this and interviewed a number of witnesses including former Central bank governor about the structure and operations of FIDF. In the end they decided that Thaksin's argument is not solid. Let courts re-examine that, if AEC did their job right there shouldn't be any loopholes left.

AEC also spent time on getting Finance Ministry to file a complaint - FM argued that they sold the land at a profit so they are not an aggrieved party. It won't matter in the court as it was only a legal step for AEC to formally launch proceedings, unless Thaksin's lawers will try to find procedural mistakes.

The fact that this is a criminal charge - you can't simply dismiss it as being politically motivated. Hoping that it will go away after the elections is simply postponing the inevitable. There will be no changes in the court, and there's little hope for Thaksin that the court will suddenly grow fond of him and forgive him for his no show monkey business.

Prakanong, the UK wants another Russkie very badly and is making a lot of fuss about it. Publicly sheltering Thaksin make them look extremely hypocritical, not that Russia really cares, but they'll surely remind the Brits about Thaksin, and that other guy, and another one. It's not a good timing for the UK.

[chachachacha]

Of course the Uk is unlikely to extradite Thaksin anytime soon, but it will make a hel_l of a mess out of his Man City chairmanship. At one point he'll be legally prohibited from sitting on the board. Will he still keep on bankrolling it?

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. By Christmas break he could be already out.

you are getting confused a little.Frank has never been chairman at Manchester City, the chairman is frank Wardle who has been chairman now for around 5 years & agreed to stay on as chairman after the take over.Frank is the owner of a company {sports international] i think they are called & it was this company that bought City.So no matter what happens it won't affect City & the flow of cash into the club.

[RKASA]

Did she buy it direactly from the FIDF, did she write them a check send them a deposit sign a contract with the FIDF? Just asking I don't know for sure.

The plot was auctioned in two rounds, and in the end his wife bought it from FIDF, and there is Thaksn's signature on bank forms approving the purchase (evidence supplied by anonimous whistle blower).

Thaksin's argument was that he didn't oversee FIDF in person so the rule doesn't apply. AEC spent quite some time on this and interviewed a number of witnesses including former Central bank governor about the structure and operations of FIDF. In the end they decided that Thaksin's argument is not solid. Let courts re-examine that, if AEC did their job right there shouldn't be any loopholes left.

AEC also spent time on getting Finance Ministry to file a complaint - FM argued that they sold the land at a profit so they are not an aggrieved party. It won't matter in the court as it was only a legal step for AEC to formally launch proceedings, unless Thaksin's lawers will try to find procedural mistakes.

The fact that this is a criminal charge - you can't simply dismiss it as being politically motivated. Hoping that it will go away after the elections is simply postponing the inevitable. There will be no changes in the court, and there's little hope for Thaksin that the court will suddenly grow fond of him and forgive him for his no show monkey business.

Prakanong, the UK wants another Russkie very badly and is making a lot of fuss about it. Publicly sheltering Thaksin make them look extremely hypocritical, not that Russia really cares, but they'll surely remind the Brits about Thaksin, and that other guy, and another one. It's not a good timing for the UK.

If he was PM and she went to the auction and paid for the property it at any price then its done. She should have never been there in the first place I am sure they could have found other property at another time. Its part of any gov you don't do that. It's like insider trading. If thats the way it went down and they broke a witness or have the paper work then he is going to have to face up. That may take a bit doing and if it gets bad enough I am sure he will some how evap into thin air. Will always be willing proxy to funnel money to him.