Down To His Last $500 Million?

[bulltaco]

Earlier, Arabian-business.com (see the link www.arabianbusiness.com/539714-catch-me-if-you-can) reported that the UK has frozen $4 billion of Thaksin's assets. "The UK froze his reputed $4bn of assets, forcing him to sell Manchester City to Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour. To add to his troubles, his UK visa was revoked - oh, and his wife divorced him last week," the Arabianbusiness report said.

Yet so far nobody has come out to confirm or deny this report.

The level of the thai press is appalling. And shameful...

BangkokPundit, a blogger, has just... asked the editor of this report (arabian newspaper). Who retracted it, saying they made mistake ! He just asked by email !

Check the copy of the email :

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/...ins-assets.html

So the whole story is based on bullshit. The UK never seized Thaksin's assets. The UK is not a banana republic-monarchy, like Thailand is.

Shame on Nation.

Exactly.... what you read about toxins money is what poeple kow... what about the money that is really hidden....... how much does he really have? but part of me says it is not about the money any longer...... it is now personal.....

[haybilly]

Yes Bangkok Pundit posted the following reply from Arabian Business after he actually bothered to check the reputed source for the Nations article:

Hi,

I'm sorry that was written wrongly - the UK didn't freeze 4 billion of his assets. The UK revoked his visa, which meant that he couldn't have any financial dealings in the UK - meaning he had to sell Man City.

Best wishes,

Anil Bhoyrul

Editorial Director

I don't quite follow the logic of this response.

Surely he sold the stake in Man City well before the problem with his UK visa ?

And I'm sure that he would still be able to have financial dealings in the UK, despite personally not being able to get in, I mean doesn't he still own a house and/or a flat there ? Or is that in someone else's name ??

Smoke and mirrors, I suspect.

As far as I know it's in the name of the current inhabitant--little daughter Thaksin--after all it's just her student digs, really!

[Alwaysright]

Earlier, Arabian-business.com (see the link www.arabianbusiness.com/539714-catch-me-if-you-can) reported that the UK has frozen $4 billion of Thaksin's assets. "The UK froze his reputed $4bn of assets, forcing him to sell Manchester City to Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour. To add to his troubles, his UK visa was revoked - oh, and his wife divorced him last week," the Arabianbusiness report said.

Yet so far nobody has come out to confirm or deny this report.

Lazy reporting. Why didn't the writer contact Arabian-business.com? Bangkok Pundit did and the Website apologised for their error as the British authorities had cancelled the visa but hadn't frozen his assets. This story is a load of rubbish.

How much did he steal from the people of Thailand?Greedy.

[Smithson]

There was enough, plus the fact that he was in he news for having bought Man City...

There were news that he was pressured to sell by UK authorities, though it wasn't clear if it was re-evaluation of his "fit and proper" test or source of the funds that were the reason.

I'm not sure teh funds are really frozen, as Thanong Khantong claims, but given that there are dozen if not hundreds of people involved, the leaks are invetable and this article is built on the leaked information. So far I think we can safely say that the money is "unavaliable".

Thaksin's greed and power hunger seem to be his undoing. From what I understood, he could of had the assets if he stayed out of politics, but he wasn't happy with that.

[Old Man River]

Earlier, Arabian-business.com (see the link www.arabianbusiness.com/539714-catch-me-if-you-can) reported that the UK has frozen $4 billion of Thaksin's assets. "The UK froze his reputed $4bn of assets, forcing him to sell Manchester City to Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour. To add to his troubles, his UK visa was revoked - oh, and his wife divorced him last week," the Arabianbusiness report said.

Yet so far nobody has come out to confirm or deny this report.

The level of the thai press is appalling. And shameful...

BangkokPundit, a blogger, has just... asked the editor of this report (arabian newspaper). Who retracted it, saying they made mistake ! He just asked by email !

Check the copy of the email :

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/...ins-assets.html

So the whole story is based on bullshit. The UK never seized Thaksin's assets. The UK is not a banana republic-monarchy, like Thailand is.

Shame on Nation.

No question, a big mistake. Really, the whole article sounded as if it was hastily put together as a sort of quick introduction to the upcoming case in January. For example, the USD 500 million number is questionable as it is just someone's guess. Still, the article provided a brief overview of the upcoming case and gives an insight into some of Thaksin's other financial woes. Whatever the amount Thaksin has left, it isn't enough without the Thai financial assets to be used as a war chest for another one party government as achieved in 2001 (the real basis of this article).

I expect that Thanong will be providing a lot of info from the court room as this case heats up.

[PeaceBlondie]

I have not paid attention to the details, but I thought the whole Shin sale to Temasek was about two billion USD, and most of that is still frozen here. Now these alleged, purported rumours of another 4 billion USD. Any fairly reliable list of the billionaire commoners in this world or country was not showing Taksin to have that much.

Ah, how the mighty have fallen.

[Plus]

The level of the thai press is appalling. And shameful...

BangkokPundit, a blogger, has just... asked the editor of this report (arabian newspaper). Who retracted it, saying they made mistake ! He just asked by email !

Check the copy of the email :

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/...ins-assets.html

So the whole story is based on bullshit. The UK never seized Thaksin's assets. The UK is not a banana republic-monarchy, like Thailand is.

Shame on Nation.

Hmm, both Bangkok Pundit and arabiannews are idiots.

Just look at BPs question - "Were you really that stupid and ignorant as to confuse the UK with Thailand when you reported your totally incorrect amount?"

Good luck getting a pleasant reply to that kind of question.

But the arabs are really thick themselves - they said that Thaksin sold AFTER visa revocation!

Today Thanong broke that 4bil number down and specified where and what each part is. He obviously found ohter sources than arabiannews.

What we got now is something like a low resolution video from a traffic camera in action movies - with a bit of a special software you can reconstruct the original image and fill in the missing details. Similarly the various leaked numbers and accounts can be reconciled by people with good knowledge of the system who can build up a relatively clrea and correct picture of what had really happened.

Or, by analysing the smoke we can establish the nature of the fire and burning materials.

That's what Thanong has done.

[Gravelrash]

Even if you take the story as true...

We are talking 500million US, he is not hurting.... 500million is nothing to cry over....

The red shirt mob does not come cheap.

I don't know, the yellow mob was fairly cheap and effective....

a matter of education and discipline.

and moral rights on your side.

What moral rights would they be then? This should be interesting.

[Gravelrash]

More likely the Nation was getting a bit embarrassed having to talk about the governments antics everyday, so thought it was time to roll out yet another Taksin story.

Be interesting to see if Bangkok Pundit is an idiot as Plus claims, or on the money.

[Heng]

What I'd be interested to know is where the alleged billions, on top of the billions frozen in Thailand, came from?

If fairly average merchant class Thais know to save for a rainy day in overseas accounts (typically in Singapore and Hong Kong), as mentioned, I would think that Thaksin and family have been doing it for quite some time as well (well before the whole Shin sell off/Ample Rich/hand in cookie jar thing). It's long been wishful thinking on the part of the anti-Thaksin crowd that "most" of their assets were frozen. Land assets, sure (kinda difficult to take those with you), cash assets, hardly.

[dave9988]

go to bangkokpundit

he confirmed this rumor was false by emailing the writer of the article

lolz

[dave9988]

Much worse, the UK government has frozen about US$4.2 billion in assets believed to belong to ex-prime minister Thaksin shortly after it revoked his and Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra's visas in November, according to local and international money managers.

FALSE

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/...ins-assets.html

[Plus]

Bangkok pundit is not an idiot, of course, but the question in his e-mail was idiotic. He could have phrased it better if he wanted to settle the issue of Thaksin's funds once and for all.

What is surprising is not the fact that Thaksin had money hidden overseas, but the amount.

4 billion dollars is more than the estimated value of his assets in the country - land, companies, everything.

Surey he didn't take 140 billion out, he invested and watched it grow, but it's not easy to get a better return on investment than Shin Corp under TRT govt - three four times in a couple of years, and it's still only about half of what overseas assets brought him. Maybe he invested in oil back in 1998, at $11 per barrel - that way it would have grown nearly fifteen times by this summer prices.

Need to have a better look at Thanong's breakdown. He says that Thaksin bought oil futures only after the coup, that means a big loss instead.

[jamesjdaly]

Toxin. Time to start digging your pauper's grave.

Edited December 26, 2008 by jamesjdaly

[Old Man River]

Bangkok pundit is not an idiot, of course, but the question in his e-mail was idiotic. He could have phrased it better if he wanted to settle the issue of Thaksin's funds once and for all.

What is surprising is not the fact that Thaksin had money hidden overseas, but the amount.

4 billion dollars is more than the estimated value of his assets in the country - land, companies, everything.

Surey he didn't take 140 billion out, he invested and watched it grow, but it's not easy to get a better return on investment than Shin Corp under TRT govt - three four times in a couple of years, and it's still only about half of what overseas assets brought him.

Plus, while the UK hasn't frozen any of his assets, there is simply no telling how much he accumulated offshore. It isn't only a matter of how much income he took out or how much he made from investments, but also (if rumors are true) it would include money made from the devaluation. Assuming that was the case, the profits post devaluation would have been staggering and while expensive at the time, positions could have been taken offshore.

[Plus]

Of the US$4.2 billion being frozen by the UK authorities, US$1.4 billion represents Thaksin's core money, plus US$40 million in futures trading margin, US$300 million in Swiss bank core money excluding margin money and US$300 million core money in Dubai. The rest is debt.

I don't think "freeze" is a proper term for the funds in Swiss banks, they have probably been simply "red-flagged" as being under investigation. I don't know if UK's order mean very much to Swiss or Dubai banks legally, but they might be reluctant to ignore the red flag marks. It would depend on which agency has actually raised the alert and on what grounds and whether there's a history of cooperation in these matters.

The worst case would be involvement with some terrorist groups, even unintentional. They would surely fry his ass for that.

Regardless of the truth, rumours like this are very damaging to Thaksin's reputation here and put him in a difficult position to prove otherwise.

Let's see what he says on Sunday.

[mahtin]

Seems to me the thing to do is nail his accountant.

He doesn't have it all memorized.

[Thai at Heart]

I would much rather wait for the British to state that they have actually even begun investigating this issue. Until then it is a non-story.

Edited December 26, 2008 by Thai at Heart

[Old Man River]

Seems to me the thing to do is nail his accountant.

He doesn't have it all memorized.

Re Thaksin's offshore structures it isn't his accountants, but his advisers that know and they aren't talking (client confidentiality). This all could have been put to bed a long time ago anyway had the SEC investigated these potential share frauds when they first became known. Of course, Thaksin was still PM at that time. Now with Abhisit as PM they are probably more willing to look at these structures closer, especially knowing that Korn can figure them out himself anyway and is now in a position to do so.

[Plus]

That would be a waste of time for Korn. Today's Nation's editorial is again about the same issue, basically asking the Brits to confirm it one way or another.

To those who doubt the "freeze" is real - official denial minimum requirement. Until then the absense of official position indicates that something's going on but they don't want to talk about it.

Perhaps the silence is simply a sign that no one popped the question yet.

[Krungthepian]

People commenting on this report have done fairly well. I think it probably was put together fairly quickly; let's remember that there was a hearing on Christmas Day (when this appears to have been written) about the $2 billion frozen here in Thai banks with the judges ruling that Thaksin couldn't have any further extension of time.. the case would go ahead in late March, I think. That was a good ruling, in my books. I think the courts have been very generous in regard to the former PM and his missus, but they should need act with haste to get back whatever they can of his ill-gotten gains ASAP.

The Nation report had one very obvious error, as several people have noted, which should have been checked and not included. I'm referring to the 4.2 billion listed as frozen by the Arabian website. That is a shame, because the rest of the info is really worth having out in the public arena and for people to consider (and maybe add to). It won't help the writer's reputation, as a number of foreign correspondents checked and noted that the Arabian website report was incorrect. I think some of them are also unimpressed by some columns written by the same writer which have been torn to shreds by people such as Bangkok Pundit. There's an anti-farang edge at work here and a wee bit of the same sort of recklessness that Thaksin displayed when he was PM.

Nonetheless, this writer does get it together occasionally. He has a forthright readable style which is really good when he's on track. And he obviously has some ok contacts in a whole range of areas. The "international financier" he has quoted here is a very valuable contact, I would imagine.

A couple of things to bear in mind: it looks like certain transactions in or to the UK were frozen or red-flagged, as one person has noted. It's a tricky business because we're talking about front companies, nominees such as "Phairoj P" mentioned in the story.. but the figure 4.2 billion should just be disregarded, I think. As others have said, the writer - any writer - getting into this area, is groping in the dark and heavily reliant on whoever they can get with whatever knowledge of what Thaksin may be doing with his personal assets. Those sorts of sources are probably rare and very wary of being identified, although I'm a firm believer that the truth always gets out, like a bubble of air rising to the surface of a pool.

Thing is, now that Korn is finance minister (and possibly a man with far greater capacity than Thaksin in terms of doing LEGAL business deals) they need to get AMLO, the anti money laundering office - or someone they can trust in that unit - to really pursue these money trails aggressively here and abroad. Give them a US$5-10 million and really set the dogs on this trail. Reason being, there is serious potential that the former PM did get away with hundreds of millions, if not a billion or two. They has been gossip for years about directors of companies that got debt haircuts from the TAMC (Thai Asset Management Corp) were asked for significant "donations" before debt write-downs were approved. Sometimes those debt writedowns were staggeringly generous.

The Asset Scrutiny Committee that probed many dubious deals by his governments was headed by respected judges, senators, a gutsy auditor general, etc. They estimate that the highly suspect tax deal which favoured AIS, the Thaksin family's mobile phone company, was worth US$2 billion alone (about the same amount that is frozen here). And heaven knows, it looks like people in his governments made a mint out of a giant range of other dubious deals.. the amount of graft from the new airport - said to be worth 20 to 33 per cent upfront of every contractor that worked there - was estimated at more than half a billion.

So, I think the story is actually more important than the one glaring error it contains, partly cos it puts the focus back on criminality that looks to have gone on here for many years. I really hope the police and DSI (Dept of Special Investigation) can be reinvigorated under the Democrats, because they were made into absolute patsies under the Thaksin governments and his nominee regimes this year. If they had done their job properly in the 90s you wouldn't have people such as Thaksin becoming prime minister, because corporate high-fliers of such woeful morality should really be weeded out and properly investigated long before. I think doubts about his asset statements existed since 1997..

Anyway, we now have the Abhisit-Newin-and-friends coalition. Let's hope it survives whatever the red shirts throw their way over the new few days and no more nasty episodes on New Year. Pray that they can survive a few sets of rapids, cos Thailand really needs some stability.

[Plus]

Arabs mentioned 4 bil freeze, Thanong talks about 4.2 bil and gives sources for 2 bil out of that, the rest is "debt", in his words.

[Meerkat]

Do we actually know whether any journalist has bothered trying to find out from the British authorities if the assets have been frozen or not? You'd think that if asked, even if they would not give a concrete yea or nay, the very least they would say might be something along the lines of, "We cannot comment on individual cases". I've not read anything of that here yet, just that "London hasn't commented on rumours" (if they did comment on all rumours in the press without being asked first, they'd never get any real work done).

Maybe something in the Thai language press?

[Samuian]

go to bangkokpundit

he confirmed this rumor was false by emailing the writer of the article

lolz

And who is going to confirm that as being the truth but nothing but the truth?

Do we actually know whether any journalist has bothered trying to find out from the British authorities if the assets have been frozen or not? You'd think that if asked, even if they would not give a concrete yea or nay, the very least they would say might be something along the lines of, "We cannot comment on individual cases". I've not read anything of that here yet, just that "London hasn't commented on rumours" (if they did comment on all rumours in the press without being asked first, they'd never get any real work done).

Maybe something in the Thai language press?

How to tell it has been made clear that this is "under investigation" and yes right, who will sign responsible in the UK Government to leak unproven "news" like this high profile case, there is simply way too much gunpowder in stories like this!

So everybody is treading the thin ice just carefully, but still many are eager to have reported and blown the whistle first - both ways!

But that it goes in favor of the Nation's reporting is highly likely just following the path of this gentleman and his entourage!

unthinkable of, just 2 years ago!

remember!?

Lean back and watch the story unravel, it will take more time, today i have the impression that there is more to come and it will be breathtaking piece of a "Shingate"...

Edited December 27, 2008 by Samuian

[Krungthepian]

Do we actually know whether any journalist has bothered trying to find out from the British authorities if the assets have been frozen or not? You'd think that if asked, even if they would not give a concrete yea or nay, the very least they would say might be something along the lines of, "We cannot comment on individual cases". I've not read anything of that here yet, just that "London hasn't commented on rumours" (if they did comment on all rumours in the press without being asked first, they'd never get any real work done).

======

At a recent end of year event for foreign correspondents, here in Bangkok, one or two said they'd checked into the (Arab website) report of 4.2 billion being frozen in the UK and that it was denied or rejected. That is a huge amount of money and the lack of anything about it in the British press makes it highly unlikely that such an incident occurred.

However, the Nation reporter had a source who spoke about large sums in the Gulf area, in Swiss banks and a smaller amount (Bt508,000?) frozen in the UK (perhaps under name of Phairoj P).

The reason the Nation may have thought there was a serious chance of such a big amount being frozen in the UK may be the fact there was a strong rumour at the time Thaksin's visa was cancelled, that the reason was UK officials were looking into dubious financial transactions linked to the sale of Manchester City. It looks like they suspected Thaksin used that opportunity to bring in "hot money". That info came via a top British reporter here, assumed to have good contacts back in the UK, and I think The Nation has referred to it once or twice already. But the Brits have never said anything about freezing any of Thaksin's money.

It's worth remembering there were reports of money thought to be Thaksin's being frozen in Swiss banks the previous year, and Thaksin allegedly "angry" over being "misquoted" by a Swiss newspaper about that. So there has been "smoke" from this hot little issue for a while you could say.

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

UK revokes former Thai PM's visa

BBC 8-11-08

The British government has revoked the visas of the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife.

An e-mail sent to airlines from the British embassy in Bangkok told them not to allow the couple to board flights to Britain.

Mr Thaksin was deposed in a military coup in 2006, and travelled to Britain.

He has since been convicted by a Thai court on corruption charges and sentenced in absentia to two years. His wife faces three years for tax evasion.

A Thai foreign ministry official told the Reuters news agency: "The foreign ministry has checked the reports with British authorities and they have confirmed that the visas were revoked."

Mr Thaksin is thought to be travelling in East Asia - a week ago he made a telephone address to more than 60,000 supporters packed into a Bangkok sports stadium.

Multiple charges

For much of the past two years Mr Thaksin and his family have lived in the UK.

He has not only invested in expensive properties here but also bought Manchester City Football Club, which he sold in August.

Following the withdrawal of their visas Mr Thaksin and his wife will now be forced to find a new home.

The cases against Thaksin include corruption charges related to the purchase of state land by his wife, abuses of power over government money, concealing assets and tax evasion.

The former leader retains a lot of support in rural areas of Thailand, but also has many detractors who would like nothing more than to see him in jail.

Whatever motivated London, it may be big and scary

By Tulsathit Taptim

The Nation On Sunday November 9, 2008

The biggest question is why. For all the uncertainties surrounding Thaksin Shinawatra's immediate future following his visa cancellation by Britain, what baffles everyone most is the real motive of the country praised by the man himself as democratically very mature.

Why, all of a sudden, did London slam the door on Thaksin and make him suffer the humiliation of a criminal-cum-political-refugee with no place to live?

The British Embassy would not comment. In fact, the cancellation of Thaksin's and his wife's visas became known through other channels, and embassy insiders said the embassy would issue statements only if it was necessary to respond to reaction from Thaksin or related parties.

So speculation was rife yesterday. Some observers pointed to his and his wife's criminal convictions, but then again, wasn't the "credibility" of the Thai courts the contentious point here? So why was London so quick to jump to the conclusion that the courts were credible when Thaksin hasn't even had a chance to put up a decent asylum fight yet?

Some pointed to the "winning-ugly" court ruling on the Ratchadaphisek land case, a verdict that was based purely on three indisputable facts: Thaksin "was prime minister" when his wife "bought" the land, and that "broke" Thai law. The court ignored charges of corruption and conspiracy to reap profits, but this means Thaksin was left with no grounds to challenge the ruling.

Others believe the visa cancellations were prompted more by political and diplomatic concerns. Some airline sources said that London might have been alarmed by the increasingly apparent tendency of Thaksin to use Britain as a staging ground to launch political activities against his opponents in Thailand. He triggered a major controversy last week by addressing tens of thousands of supporters through a long-distance phone-in from Hong Kong.

But why the rather rude manner? Yes, Thaksin could have been politely told to leave quietly for not acting like a real persecuted refugee, but there would have been a risk of him mounting a legal campaign in a bid to stay on. Such a campaign, of course, could turn politically and diplomatically very nasty for Britain.

One airline source went further, saying the highly unusual way of treating someone who had been allowed to live a luxurious life and buy a premium soccer club had been caused by "perhaps something we don't know". Bluntly put, have the British authorities smelt some hanky-panky deals? To start with, Thaksin bought Manchester City with money he never reported having (while he was in Thailand and had to declare his assets).

Whatever the reason, however, it must be strong enough to outweigh the obvious negatives this shocking visa move carries.

One thing is clear: Thaksin is fast going from a divisive political figure in his homeland to an international hot potato.

====

Thaksin says Swiss money frozen

BangkokPost.com from news agency reports 6-9-07

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says his Swiss bank accounts had been frozen, and angrily said the country's vaunted banking secrecy was a thing of the past.

Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung quoted Thaksin in advance extracts from an interview scheduled for publication on Sept 16 that Swiss banks had frozen some of his money and that he would be suing them "because my money is clean".

"Good old bank secrecy is no more. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past," he said.

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok and a member of the Thai anti-graft panel set up to investigate allegations of corruption against him said they had no idea what Thaksin was talking about as there had been no requests for such action.

"This could be a tactic to win newspaper space," Reuters news agency quoted Jaruvan Maintaka, a member of the Asset Scrutiny Committee (ASC) set up after last September's military coup as saying. "We know nothing about it since we didn't do it."

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok said no financial crime treaties existed between the two countries, making it very hard for Thai authorities to make any formal request to freeze assets.

Furthermore, Swiss authorities would never contemplate action until solid evidence had come to light against Thaksin and he had been found guilty, embassy official Jacques Lauer said.

"There's nothing. There's been no evidence and we have not been approached in any way by the authorities," he said.

Graft investigators have frozen $1.5 billion in Thaksin's Thailand bank accounts and have issued arrest warrants for "official misconduct" in the Ratchadaphisek land scandal that involves his wife, and in connection with a share deal.

Thaksin defended himself and his family against allegations of corruption. "Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal. It is defamation," he told the Swiss newspaper.

He also criticised the military government's record in office. "The hopes of the country's poor for a better life have been shattered," Thaksin said.

Thaksin ruled out a return to his home country in the short term. He is living in exile in Britain, where he has bought Manchester City soccer club for 81 million pounds ($160 million).

Thaksin goes into Swiss reverse

Bangkok Post 7-9-07

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did not threaten to sue Swiss banks for freezing his accounts in Switzerland because he does not have any, his chief spokesman said on Thursday.

Thaksin had been misquoted and his comments taken out of context by Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung, said his lawyer and voluble spokesman, Noppadol Pattama.

"What he meant was his bank accounts in Thailand, not in Switzerland. The newspaper must have misreported what he said," the lawyer told the news agency Reuters.

The paper quoted Thaksin in extracts from an interview scheduled for publication on Sept. 16 that Swiss banks had frozen some of his money and that he would be suing them "because my money is clean".

"Good old bank secrecy is no more. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past," he said.

A second spokesman, Tim Bell, who is based in London, said the comments had been in answer only to a question about his thoughts on the state of Swiss banking.

"He doesn't have any Swiss bank accounts and therefore he doesn't have any that can be frozen," Bell said.

Graft investigators have frozen $1.5 billion in Thaksin's bank accounts in Thailand and have issued arrest warrants for "official misconduct" in a Bangkok land deal and in connection with a share deal.

Thaksin is already suing the Assets Scrutiny Committee, set up after last year's coup to investigate alleged corruption, demanding compensation for damage caused by the freezing of his assets.

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok said no financial crime treaties existed between the two countries, making it very hard for Thai authorities to make any formal request to freeze assets.

Furthermore, Swiss authorities would never contemplate action until solid evidence had come to light against Thaksin and he had been found guilty, embassy official Jacques Lauer said.

Thaksin defended himself and his family against allegations of corruption. "Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal."

==========

[Old Man River]

People commenting on this report have done fairly well. I think it probably was put together fairly quickly; let's remember that there was a hearing on Christmas Day (when this appears to have been written) about the $2 billion frozen here in Thai banks with the judges ruling that Thaksin couldn't have any further extension of time.. the case would go ahead in late March, I think. That was a good ruling, in my books. I think the courts have been very generous in regard to the former PM and his missus, but they should need act with haste to get back whatever they can of his ill-gotten gains ASAP.

The Nation report had one very obvious error, as several people have noted, which should have been checked and not included. I'm referring to the 4.2 billion listed as frozen by the Arabian website. That is a shame, because the rest of the info is really worth having out in the public arena and for people to consider (and maybe add to). It won't help the writer's reputation, as a number of foreign correspondents checked and noted that the Arabian website report was incorrect. I think some of them are also unimpressed by some columns written by the same writer which have been torn to shreds by people such as Bangkok Pundit. There's an anti-farang edge at work here and a wee bit of the same sort of recklessness that Thaksin displayed when he was PM.

Nonetheless, this writer does get it together occasionally. He has a forthright readable style which is really good when he's on track. And he obviously has some ok contacts in a whole range of areas. The "international financier" he has quoted here is a very valuable contact, I would imagine.

A couple of things to bear in mind: it looks like certain transactions in or to the UK were frozen or red-flagged, as one person has noted. It's a tricky business because we're talking about front companies, nominees such as "Phairoj P" mentioned in the story.. but the figure 4.2 billion should just be disregarded, I think. As others have said, the writer - any writer - getting into this area, is groping in the dark and heavily reliant on whoever they can get with whatever knowledge of what Thaksin may be doing with his personal assets. Those sorts of sources are probably rare and very wary of being identified, although I'm a firm believer that the truth always gets out, like a bubble of air rising to the surface of a pool.

Thing is, now that Korn is finance minister (and possibly a man with far greater capacity than Thaksin in terms of doing LEGAL business deals) they need to get AMLO, the anti money laundering office - or someone they can trust in that unit - to really pursue these money trails aggressively here and abroad. Give them a US$5-10 million and really set the dogs on this trail. Reason being, there is serious potential that the former PM did get away with hundreds of millions, if not a billion or two. They has been gossip for years about directors of companies that got debt haircuts from the TAMC (Thai Asset Management Corp) were asked for significant "donations" before debt write-downs were approved. Sometimes those debt writedowns were staggeringly generous.

The Asset Scrutiny Committee that probed many dubious deals by his governments was headed by respected judges, senators, a gutsy auditor general, etc. They estimate that the highly suspect tax deal which favoured AIS, the Thaksin family's mobile phone company, was worth US$2 billion alone (about the same amount that is frozen here). And heaven knows, it looks like people in his governments made a mint out of a giant range of other dubious deals.. the amount of graft from the new airport - said to be worth 20 to 33 per cent upfront of every contractor that worked there - was estimated at more than half a billion.

So, I think the story is actually more important than the one glaring error it contains, partly cos it puts the focus back on criminality that looks to have gone on here for many years. I really hope the police and DSI (Dept of Special Investigation) can be reinvigorated under the Democrats, because they were made into absolute patsies under the Thaksin governments and his nominee regimes this year. If they had done their job properly in the 90s you wouldn't have people such as Thaksin becoming prime minister, because corporate high-fliers of such woeful morality should really be weeded out and properly investigated long before. I think doubts about his asset statements existed since 1997..

Anyway, we now have the Abhisit-Newin-and-friends coalition. Let's hope it survives whatever the red shirts throw their way over the new few days and no more nasty episodes on New Year. Pray that they can survive a few sets of rapids, cos Thailand really needs some stability.

I actually read all these comments and we do agree. I think it funny about your call for AMLO to investigate Thaksin when it was Thaksin who used AMLO to go after Thanong. As much as he tried, he didn't get Thanong. Turnabout is fair play.

[Plus]

That old Swiss story tells us something about their MO - they would deny everything, it doesn't cost them a penny. If you listen to all sides now - absolutely nothing has ever happened, there's no freeze, no Swiss, no money, no accounts, nothing.

Yeah, right, there's just this little matter of Thaksin's run away mouth.

Another clear thing about that freeze, and the current one, is that it's not exactly legal. More likely the accounts have been red-flagged by some agency and banks need their permission to allow Thaksin access to those funds.

As for asking the Brits - who exactly are you going to ask? Which agency? Do they ever reply publicly?

[jaidam]

That old Swiss story tells us something about their MO - they would deny everything, it doesn't cost them a penny. If you listen to all sides now - absolutely nothing has ever happened, there's no freeze, no Swiss, no money, no accounts, nothing.

Yeah, right, there's just this little matter of Thaksin's run away mouth.

Another clear thing about that freeze, and the current one, is that it's not exactly legal. More likely the accounts have been red-flagged by some agency and banks need their permission to allow Thaksin access to those funds.

As for asking the Brits - who exactly are you going to ask? Which agency? Do they ever reply publicly?

And then we have Keith Harris frantically backpeddaling. When facilitating Thaksin purchase of Man city he was sure the cash was clean. These days he is full of regret and hoping the authorities will make the footy club ownership tests more strict. Hmmm.

Full story will out, as it normally does. Its looking more likely by the day that the UK have indeed frozen cash. Money laundering is a serious crime in the UK. If I remember rightly his asset declarations included no overseas assets. It must be a bitter pill for his fans to swallow, but the sheer scale of his financial shenannigans will be uncovered before long.

[Tony Clifton]

As I`ve been saying for a few years, he has been under surveillance for quite a while and he will get caught abroad for money laundering or some other financial scam. Looks like all he did that was wrong is eventually resurfacing to bite his droopy criminal ass.

[plachon]

All this hidden lucre coming to light in Switzerland, UK and elsewhere vindicates what I suspected during his tenure as MCFC tenure that he didn't want to spend any of his ill gotten gains on buying new players or even paying proper wages as it would flag to authorities where his money was, when he had been claiming all along that it was all in Thailand frozen for the home crowd to give him sympathy. His constant web of lies and deceit worked too, proven by the lingering sympathy for this crook on this site and across the villages of Northern and Northeastern Thailand, but eventually it will catch up with him and now would be a good time to expose just how many millions he stole and squirrelled away from the country he claimed he loved so much. Especially the poor voters and Koos of the nation, eh?

Anyway, the infatuation will continue I'm sure until he finally gets his just desserts. Let's hope it is at the hands of the criminal justice system in UK or some other foreign nation where money buys you relatively few favours once in the slammer, for total poetic justice to this scumbag. What's the going sentence for money laundering of millions?