Thailand May Seek To Extradite Thaksin: Pm

[hammered]

The public donations go into the coffers and if those coffers still have any coin of the realm in them, then that should be available for fines as well as food. That was what I sought to imply.

Yes, civil lawsuits are a non-starter, because the PAD bosses don't consider their organisation liable for any minor breakages, will simply ignore a verdict and an award won't be enforced.

The PAD and UDD almost certainly make sure their funds are not in a nice PAD or UDD labelled bank account to avoid disruptions if money is seized. The business set ups of both in merchandising would be interesting to see but probably consists of "independent" business concerns not linked to the movement in any legal way. No doubt the individuals are protected beyond their need to pay any levied fine and no doubt on both sides there are donors willing to cover that. And mentioning donors, there probably isnt a nice central fund huge in size but a network that can raise needed cash at short notice. The PAD are probably better at this than the UDD as the UDD have lost a lot of business support they once had. There is also the leakage into personal accounts problems and business opportunity. We know that Sondhi has benefitted from the PAD by selling ASTV subscriptions and the PTP have leaked the trousering of money intended for the demo by the red organizers.

The state or BMA will end up paying for any damage. That has always happened after demos. I agree pursuing civil cases is a waste of time and always has been. It seems other organizations affected by the PAD rally did not even bother to launch them in the first place. Probably true of anywhere affected by red rallies too.

[Journalist]

Its back on ....for next thursday.....by video super-link live from Thaksin's tent in east Afghanistan.

[Insight]

Its back on ....for next thursday.....by video super-link live from Thaksin's tent in east Afghanistan.

Oh no it isn't....

(I just want a "oh yes it is" reply to match this complete pantomime)

[sriracha john]

Its back on ....for next thursday.....by video super-link live from Thaksin's tent in east Afghanistan.

Oh no it isn't....

(I just want a "oh yes it is" reply to match this complete pantomime)

Give Thakky's Spokesman U-Turn Phongthep another 10 minutes and he'll issue an official statement to that effect.

[Journalist]

The lunch is THB600.....but whats the point of that? Its not lunch with Thaksin.

("Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. I had lunch with Thaksin on thursday!")

Its lunch with a television set.

Maybe he is there in disembodied form, and we see him being served his camel entrails, while the television bearing his mandibulating fizzog is sat atop the banqueting table.

I might go along but forget the gourmandizing. Doesn't strike me as a very riveting event though.

[ovenman]

Its back on ....for next thursday.....by video super-link live from Thaksin's tent in east Afghanistan.

Is that the same tent from where Bin Laden and his cronies videotape their periodic messages?

[Plus]

Do I get this right?

Hong Kong journalists are paying for an opportunity to watch Thaksin speaking on TV? And some Bangkok based western journalists are even flying there? How gullible is that?

Even red shirts are smart enough to get paid for going to his phone-ins.

[Journalist]

I totally agree reporters should get paid for going to press conferences !!!!!!

There's a lunch - and looking again that would cost me THB1000 - as i'm not an FCC member (its a lot more expensive than the Bangkok FCC - tends to be investment bankers who are members)

But, there is a free press pass.

For that, one doesn't get any grub. And (under the old arrangement of him being there in person), one got to sit in a separate room - with some internal audio and video I guess.

Kind of a <deleted> deal isn't it !

[animatic]

I totally agree reporters should get paid for going to press conferences !!!!!!

There's a lunch - and looking again that would cost me THB1000 - as i'm not an FCC member (its a lot more expensive than the Bangkok FCC - tends to be investment bankers who are members)

But, there is a free press pass.

For that, one doesn't get any grub. And (under the old arrangement of him being there in person), one got to sit in a separate room - with some internal audio and video I guess.

Kind of a <deleted> deal isn't it !

Well with a free press pass I'd spring for the rubber chicken.

But eat light in case my bile starts to rise...

[Plus]

So Thaksin is going to get grilled by investment bankers while the journalists sit in another room with headphones?

Bizarre.

[ballpoint]

So Thaksin is going to get grilled by investment bankers while the journalists sit in another room with headphones?

Bizarre.

Now I'm confused. What is the dinner going to be, rubber chicken or grilled Thaksin?

[animatic]

So Thaksin is going to get grilled by investment bankers while the journalists sit in another room with headphones?

Bizarre.

Now I'm confused. What is the dinner going to be, rubber chicken or grilled Thaksin?

BOTH!

The rubber chicken is tougher,

but the Thaksin is slipperier down the gullet.

[ballpoint]

So Thaksin is going to get grilled by investment bankers while the journalists sit in another room with headphones?

Bizarre.

Now I'm confused. What is the dinner going to be, rubber chicken or grilled Thaksin?

BOTH!

The rubber chicken is tougher,

but the Thaksin is slipperier down the gullet.

I'm just afraid the grilled Thaksin won't stay down though.

[chlear909]

So Thaksin is going to get grilled by investment bankers while the journalists sit in another room with headphones?

Bizarre.

Now I'm confused. What is the dinner going to be, rubber chicken or grilled Thaksin?

BOTH!

The rubber chicken is tougher,

but the Thaksin is slipperier down the gullet.

I'm just afraid the grilled Thaksin won't stay down though.

12 pages!now thars a well chewed carrcass,

[warfie]

and here I was hoping to get some news about the extradition... silly me...

[Arkady]

Finally some one at the Foreign Ministry who knows what he is talking about has spoken. Thailand has no extradition treaty with Hong Kong and the treaty with China is not applicable to Hong Kong under Hong Kong's basic law. There has obviously been a vacuum since the handover of Hong Kong as Thailand's 1913 extradition treaty with Britain clearly applied to all British possessions including Hong Kong. The MFA official indicated that t they have been working on the treaty with Hong Kong for some years and have a draft which might be ready for inking in the not too distant future. Even without the treaty Thailand could theoretically apply to Hong Kong for extradition on a reciprocal basis. I doubt it would get past the Hong Kong courts but it could cause him some inconvenience. More practically Thailand is making it clear to China that it doesn't want Thaksin to use Hong Kong as a base for dissident political activity. They understand this very well and don't want the Dalai Lama making speeches to the FCCT in Bangkok!

[Briggsy]

Just hope he doesn't get the same judge who banned Sammak as PM for hosting a cooking show.

If he comes back to Thailand, he isn't going to be facing a judge. That episode is done and done.

He'll be facing a shower cubicle wall.

180 degrees away will be a 200 kilo Nigerian drug smuggler called 'Tiny' who is playing find the soap.

Sound political analysis from the professional journalist.

Finally some one at the Foreign Ministry who knows what he is talking about has spoken. Thailand has no extradition treaty with Hong Kong and the treaty with China is not applicable to Hong Kong under Hong Kong's basic law. There has obviously been a vacuum since the handover of Hong Kong as Thailand's 1913 extradition treaty with Britain clearly applied to all British possessions including Hong Kong. The MFA official indicated that t they have been working on the treaty with Hong Kong for some years and have a draft which might be ready for inking in the not too distant future. Even without the treaty Thailand could theoretically apply to Hong Kong for extradition on a reciprocal basis. I doubt it would get past the Hong Kong courts but it could cause him some inconvenience. More practically Thailand is making it clear to China that it doesn't want Thaksin to use Hong Kong as a base for dissident political activity. They understand this very well and don't want the Dalai Lama making speeches to the FCCT in Bangkok!

And some real facts and real analysis.

[Plus]

There's a Thai team to conclude extradition treaty with HK as we speak. It has been in the works since 1993 and ris eportedly 90% complete. They won't be able to finish it in time to catch Thaksin, but when two governments are working together and there's China, too, it's not wise to test the waters.

Video link from Nicaragua it is then.

There have been at least two interviews regurgitating the same stuff since the cancellation already, what are the chances there will be anything new now?

[hammered]

There's a Thai team to conclude extradition treaty with HK as we speak. It has been in the works since 1993 and ris eportedly 90% complete. They won't be able to finish it in time to catch Thaksin, but when two governments are working together and there's China, too, it's not wise to test the waters.

Video link from Nicaragua it is then.

There have been at least two interviews regurgitating the same stuff since the cancellation already, what are the chances there will be anything new now?

The minister of defence said that they wont bother monitoring Thaksin's next call in (Mar 14) because it wouldnt have any affect on the country. New tact. Ignore and probably wind Thaksin up at the same time.

[jayboy]

No problem with any of the comments made but one has to wonder whether the government hasn't more important things to worry about given the economic holocaust in prospect.Thaksin's barami is surely dwindling by the day in line with his wealth.Pro-active pursuit will presumably be unpopular in the NE heartland where the government needs to make up ground.Why don't the authorities just leave the situation as it is along with the occasional extradition threat to freak him out? Best to ignore him rather than see him as an all devouring Sauron demon straight out of Lord of the Rings.Meanwhile the government proceeds with a populist spending plan that even Thaksin would have been shocked by.Ironic, innit?

[Plus]

Democrats actually left Thaksin alone long time ago. Recent spike in interest was surely provoked by highly publicised meetings with Phue Thai MPs and scheduled FCCHK address.

When Thaksin is quiet, Dems don't care about him. They still haven't revoked his ordinary passport, for example, and some PAD members even say that even diplomatic passport hasn't been actually cancelled.

[bungy007]

At least he was elected twice (or is three times) by the people (legally) and not put up by puppet Generals.

Fobuff

Errr. Not democratically which was why the elections were anulled. The man is a crook! Granted, the present incumbant stood back and watched the rest tear themselves apart so that he was the last man standing. Still, better to have him at the helm than to have the return of that old shiester Shinawatra

[Journalist]

Errr. Not democratically which was why the elections were anulled.

The elections weren't annulled. Certain rulebreakers were red carded and the parties sanctioned.

As to whether you think the elections weren't democratic depends on whether you think that any cheating (or some defined level of cheating) renders an election undemocratic.

Edited March 11, 2009 by Journalist

[Plus]

2006 elections were annuled, and the farce TRT perpetrated then without any shame should rest any argument about their honesty in running elections to rest.

[Journalist]

Isn't bungy referring to the elections that the Democrats did choose to contest eg: 2007

The 2006 election was not annulled due to vote buying

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_general_...ion,_April_2006

[sriracha john]

Talks on extradition treaty with HK

Legal team off to Hong Kong next week

The Office of the Attorney-General will send a legal team to Hong Kong to take part in talks on a possible extradition treaty with Thailand.

The team will be headed by the Director-General of the International Affairs Department Sirisak Tiyaphano. It will comprise three attorneys and a police officer.

They will go to Hong Kong on Tuesday in the company of a delegation from the Foreign Ministry's Treaties and Legal Affairs Department, Mr Sirisak said.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/13...ffort-continues

[Maestro]

Nonsensical posts about toxins have been deleted.

--

Maestro

[sriracha john]

FUGITIVE EX-PM

Kasit vows to spare no efforts to have Thaksin extradited

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said yesterday he would fully exercise his authority by all means to bring fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to justice in Thailand.

A group of Thai officials would be dispatched to Dubai next week to inform officials about the Thai government's concern, as Thaksin regularly used the Gulf state as a base to phone-in and provoke his red- shirted supporters, he said.

Representatives of the Attorney-General's Office were talking with their counterparts in Hong Kong to conclude an extradition treaty, enabling the government to detain Thaksin if he appeared in the territory, he said.

"I speak frankly, this is a struggle between two ideologies. We want democracy, monarchy, and constitution but they [Thaksin's group] don't," Kasit told a meeting of the ruling Democrat Party.

"It is not a normal power struggle; it means the future of the institution [monarchy], which has lived with us for hundreds of years," he told the party's members.

"It is a great danger. It's time for us to fight. Let's ask ourselves what we want to see [happen]. I'm ready for the fighting," the minister said.

The Foreign Ministry has instructed all its embassies around the globe to feed correct information about the monarchy and the government's policy to the international community, he said.

Since Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's speech at Oxford University early this month, articles in foreign media had shown they have a better understanding about Thailand, he said.

Fugitive academic Giles Ungpakorn who is on the run from lese majeste charge has no credibility anymore, he said.

The minister referred to the leftist academic because he understood that Giles, together with Thaksin, championed the changing of Thailand to a republic state.

Members of the Democrat Party at the meeting also questioned Thaksin's phone-in tactics which are now floating much speculation about who masterminded the 2006 coup.

Minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office, Satit Wongnongtaey, said the government was closely monitoring Thaksin's moves and had found some officials had helped the former prime minister arrange a video link from abroad to the red-shirted rally.

Jatuporn Promphan, leader of the red-shirted Democracy Alliance Against Dictatorship rejected Satit's allegation, saying there were no government officials helping Thaksin.

"We are examining if officials have done anything illegal or used the government's resource to help Thaksin," he said. Thaksin made calls by video link to his supporters who have surrounded Government House since last week, to rise up against the government. Over the weekend, he accused many senior people in the Privy Council, the military and justice, of prompting the military coup to oust him and used juridical activists to indict him.

- The Nation / 2009-03-30

[sriracha john]

Talks planned with Dubai

Officials plan to hold talks with Dubai as part of efforts to extradite Thaksin Shinawatra, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya says.

Officials and prosecutors have held talks with Chinese and Hong Kong authorities about pursuing the former prime minister and would shortly speak to officials in Dubai.

"Prosecutors and the Foreign Ministry talked to Hong Kong and China recently about the extradition and will talk to Dubai next week," Mr Kasit said at the annual meeting of the Democrat party yesterday.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1421...nned-with-dubai

[sriracha john]

FM Kasit seeks Thaksin extradition from Dubai

BANGKOK, March 29 (TNA) - Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said on Sunday he plans to visit Dubai to seek the extradition of Thailand’s former premier Thaksin Shinwatra, whom he says is using Dubai as the base for his political movement.

Mr. Kasit's comment was made at the annual meeting of the Democrat Party when he was asked about measures relating to the former prime minister who fled Thailand last year before a court found him guilty of violating a conflict of interest law regarding his then wife’s Ratchadapisek land purchase.

The fugitive former premier has been frequently seen in Dubai, Hong Kong, and China.

The Thai government earlier sent officials to Hong Kong to attempt Thaksin's extradition, as there is no such treaty between Thailand and Hong Kong.

The Thai authorities' move came after Thaksin planned a video conference speech from the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong.

Mr. Kasit said that Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sent Thaksin’s court verdict details to countries worldwide informing them of the ex-premier’s current status.

"We cannot intervene in the decisions of other countries," Mr. Kasit said, "but we can inform them about the convicted former premier."

"We can express our concern that they not permit Thaksin to attack and impugn other people and institutions while he is on their soil," the Foreign Minister said.

“Today it is not only the responsibility of the government,” Mr. Kasit emphasised. “No Thais should let Thaksin do that.”

The foreign ministry, Mr. Kasit said, also referred the issue of the revocation of Thaksin’s passport to Thailand’s Office of the Council of State to consider whether it would violate Thaksin’s right to travel, but the Council replied that it could not decide political issues.

The Foreign Minister admitted, however, that he still does not know where Thaksin is to be found, but said that as the former prime minister, he should return to Thailand for prosecution.

Edited March 30, 2009 by sriracha john