Ekkayuth Drama : Spy Shame

[Highwayman]

Camera-toting NIA agents claimed they were just out for dinner, businessman says

Embattled businessman and government critic Ekkayuth An-chanbutr yesterday scoffed at the National Intelligence Agency's (NIA) claim that its agents were following him only for his own protection.

"If I hadn't intercepted the NIA's mission, I would certainly have been kidnapped or shot, like other prominent figures who've gone missing," Ekkayuth said. "If the three NIA officials were really providing me with security, why did they refuse to identify themselves when I confronted them?"

Ekkayuth on Tuesday pressed charges against three men who he said trailed him in a car from his Prachatham Party headquarters to the Grand Pacific Hotel on Sukhumvit Road. He determined he was being followed after circling around behind the NIA agents, then forcing their car to stop on a busy street. The three occupants claimed they were just going out to eat, Ekkayuth said, and one said he was a student at Ramkamhaeng Uni-versity.

But all three admitted at Makkasan police station that they were NIA officials on Ekkayuth's tail. Ekkayuth, who owns a supermarket in London, has dominated local headlines since accusing members of the government of manipulating the stock market.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra threatened to resurrect criminal charges against him for running an illegal pyramid scheme two decades ago, but the businessman merely responded by threatening to reveal the identity of two Cabinet ministers he says are toying with stocks illegally.

NIA deputy director Sirachai Chotiratana confirmed that the three men were NIA agents, but said they were assigned simply to "observe" Ekkayuth's activities, not "do surveillance" on him.

He said their intention was to prevent any harm coming to Ekkayuth.

"In the past, when prominent figures have disappeared or gone missing, the NIA was usually the first to be criticised for being lax," Sirachai said. The agency thus decided to keep an eye on him so that if something untoward occurred, it would have first-hand information, he said.

"We were not there to provide security for him because (our agents) are not armed," he added. "We just had a still camera and a video camera to do the job."

Asked what the NIA agents would do if they saw someone try and kidnap Ekkayuth, Sirichai said they would film the incident and report it to police.

He argued that if the mission was really one of clandestine surveillance, Ekkayuth would have been tailed in a more complicated fashion, with more vehicles and agents involved. He said the agents had been ordered to keep close to Ekkayuth in order to see whether anything happened, but "were too close, and that allowed Khun Ekkayuth to learn of the trailing".

Ekkayuth told reporters there was no truth in the NIA's claim since the agents insisted they were just driving to a restaurant. "They revealed their real identities only when confronted [by police]," he said. "Why didn't they tell me if they were just on this mission for my safety? If I'd known about that, I would have allowed them to follow me around the clock."

Ekkayuth contended that the NIA is so powerful that Makasan police at first refused to take any action, keeping him waiting at the station for hours. He called the long wait "threatening", and complained that police merely recorded the incident in a report book and told him the matter was ended.

Ekkayuth said he would file a complaint today with the National Human Rights Commission and prepare a case for the Administrative Court. He said he had already assigned his lawyers in Britain to sue Thaksin in the World Court.

In a separate interview, Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said he had assigned the relevant authorities to take good care of Ekkayuth because if anything untoward happened to him, the government would be blamed.

"We have been conducting these [observation missions] for many people, not just Khun Ekkayuth," Chavalit said. "We are doing this now on some other people, whose names I will not reveal to reporters."

Opposition leader Banyat Bantadtan said he found the NIA's explanation irrational because their agents seemed to have intentionally let Ekkayuth know they were following him.

"I feel that the stalking was intended to intimidate him because it is everyone's basic right to travel anywhere they want," the Democrat Party leader said.

The Nation 16.09.2004