Rakesh Saxena Still In Canadian Custody

[george]

Rakesh still in Canadian custody, says Attorney-General

BANGKOK: -- Fraud charges against fugitive financier Rakesh Saxena, who is fighting extradition from Canada, remain valid and he is still in detention, according to a spokesman for the Attorney-General's Office in Bangkok.

Mr. Saxena is wanted in Thailand over the 1996 bankrupting of the now-defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce.

A-G Office spokesman Sirisak Tiyaphan was reacting to media reports that Mr. Saxena had been released from Canadian custody on the expiry of the fraud charges against him.

Mr. Sirisak said the reports reflected only Mr Saxena’s side of the story. Legal proceedings were continuing, the spokesman said, with an appeal being heard against the order of a lower court allowing Mr. Saxena's extradition. During the process, Mr. Saxena remained under the custody of Canadian officials who had installed closed-circuit television around his house.

Mr. Sirisak said the fraud charges under the Stock Exchange Act remained valid for a further six years, and Mr. Saxena could not be released while the extradition request was still being considered.

Mr. Sirisak also accused Mr. Saxena of attempting to exploit legal loopholes to drag out the appeal court’s proceedings. But he said Thai authorities were confident that the Canadian appellate court would stand by the lower court's verdict.

--TNA 2005-08-19

[Kerryd]

Rakesh still in Canadian custody, says Attorney-General 

--TNA 2005-08-19

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wish they'd get rid of this S.O.B. He is one of those sneaky b@st@rds that would smile and shake your hand while robbing your kids piggy bank.

Even though they know he's been up to no good while under "house arrest", they let him stay. Guess Canada doesn't mind harbouring criminals, as long as they are rich (even if their wealth came from crime).

Here is the Vancouver Sun article from 13 August:

Vancouver Sun

Guess I was one of the lucky ones. I owned stock in one of "his" companies (which had ties to other shady companies, like Sandline International, a company that had an awful lot of South African mercenaries on it's payroll). I never had a problem getiing my shares or selling them again, but then, I was small potatoes compared to some investors.

If Thailand would gaurantee that he wouldn't face the death penalty, then Canada wouldn't have a problem with deporting/extraditing him. Make him serve the maximum life sentences consecutively (1 life sentence for each fraud conviction). He won't last more than 2 any ways.

This has been dragging on for almost 10 years now, thanks in large part to the money he stole (which allows him to hire lawyers who specialize at finding loopholes and dragging court cases along for ages).

(spelling)

Edited August 19, 2005 by Kerryd

[meelousee]

Rakesh still in Canadian custody, says Attorney-General 

BANGKOK: -- Fraud charges against fugitive financier Rakesh Saxena, who is fighting extradition from Canada,  remain valid and he is still in detention,  according to a spokesman for the Attorney-General's Office in Bangkok.

Mr. Saxena is wanted in Thailand over the 1996 bankrupting of the now-defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce.

--TNA 2005-08-19

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cant wait if I could only get my stinking hands on this turd.

Pleas'e if there is a god of good will and benevolence help them send him to us we have only good will waiting for him.

Ching Ching

[The_Moog]

I met Rakesh a few years ago, had a few glasses of claret, (Margaux), with him in his office . A good raconteur.

He wore a black shirt with a grey suit though!!

[Heng]

I'm sure the funds are spread throughout the Saxena family by now.... and thereby also returned to many a Thai family (in addition to Swiss, Cayman Island, Vanuatu, etc. families).

[Sphere]

Does anyone really believe that just one man can bankrupt a big bank like the Bangkok Bank of Commerce?

How many people have actually gone to jail after the much more recent defence of the baht (1997)? Wasn't it only a couple of months ago that they were asking one official to pay back a gazillion bahts to the government?

This just looks like another case of the ONE syndrome...

ONE scandal - ONE scapegoat!

[The_Moog]

There was a lot of related party lending, say, to companies owned by members of the Board of Directors.

Fundamentally though, it was Rakesh calling the shots. He was a charming shyster. Some of his schemes he outlined to me were outrageous - eg securitizing their non-performing loans.

This is not really scapegoating in this particular case.

[sriracha john]

UPDATE

Fugitive would be tortured in Thailand if Canada extradites him says lawyer

Yahoo! Canada Newsl

47 minutes ago

VANCOUVER (CP) - Fugitive banker Rakesh Saxena could be killed or at least tossed in a prison cell and locked in leg irons if Canada surrenders him to Thailand to face allegations that he embezzled millions of dollars, a lawyer told the B.C. Appeal Court on Monday.

Russ Chamberlain argued that Saxena would be tortured in Thailand, a country where human rights abuses are so shocking that prisoners are routinely beaten, shocked with cattle prods and placed in metal cages. "To be electrocuted in the genital area would shock the conscience of any fair-minded person, in my respectful submission," Chamberlain told a panel of three judges.

He also said his client would be discriminated against in Thailand as an Indian foreigner.

"There is some evidence that Indians are on the lowest scale of people who live in Thailand," Chamberlain said.

But a lawyer for the Justice Department said outside court that there's no corroborative evidence that Saxena would be tortured if returned to Thailand.

Saxena, now in his early 50s, has been fighting to stay in Canada since 1996 when he was arrested at a luxury hotel in Whistler.

The Canadian government ordered him to surrender to Thailand three years ago after a B.C. Supreme Court judge decided there was enough evidence against him to go to trial in that country.

Saxena has been charged in Thailand with embezzling $88 million from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which led to a 1996 run on deposits, causing its collapse.

Chamberlain cited several reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to argue that despite Thailand's Constitution, torture is still prevalent.

He told the court that Saxena would have a difficult time if returned there because people believe the banker single-handedly brought down the country's economy.

"There is a risk that Saxena will be extraditionally killed," Chamberlain said.

Reading from an affidavit, he said people would rather see Saxena dead than testify against them in court.

Saxena has maintained that he is being made the fall guy by executives of the bank and by financial regulators embarrassed by the scandal.

Chamberlain said he's not buying assurances the Canadian government has received from Thai officials that his client would be given preferential treatment because of his high profile.

In a letter to Ottawa, Thailand has assured that every reasonable effort would be made to ensure Saxena is allowed communication with lawyers and visits by officials at any time.

But Chamberlain said the letter isn't even signed.

"How can you accept assurances of a torturer?" he asked the judges.

"Put yourselves in the position of Mr. Saxena, locked in leg irons in a small cell in Thailand with this document to protect him.

"In my respectful submission it is of little comfort to have these assurances."

Saxena was charged under the Thai Penal Code, which has now been barred under a statute, although charges under the Securities and Exchange Act won't fall under a statute of limitations until 2010.

Outside court, Chamberlain said his client can no longer be prosecuted by the Thai government because of the statute of limitations that came into effect in June 2005.

He also said there are no facts to support allegations against Saxena under the Securities and Exchange Act, which can't be a basis of prosecution because his client wasn't a securities broker.

But Justice Department lawyer Deborah Strachan said outside court that the Canadian government is relying on assertions by Thailand that the charges under the Securities and Exchange Act are justified.

"The question for the courts here is whether the allegations amount to criminal conduct in Canada and the extradition judge found that they would amount to fraud and/or theft in Canada," Strachan said.

She also said the Canadian government has reviewed volumes of human rights reports submitted by Chamberlain.

"But the minister also reviewed a number of other things, including the new Constitution of Thailand and various other documents and came to the conclusion that while there have been human rights abuses that he was satisfied that Mr. Saxena himself would not be tortured."

Chamberlain said he'll take his case to the Supreme Court of Canada if the Appeal Court upholds the extradition judge's decision.

[sriracha john]

Saxena extradition likely to proceed

By ThaiDay 1 February 2006 14:58

A Canadian court is unlikely to reverse the extradition order that compels fugitive banker Rakesh Saxena, who faces charges of embezzling more than three billion baht from Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) in 1996, to return to Thailand, Canadian press reported yesterday.

Saxena, pictured, has been fighting possible extradition to Thailand since being arrested in Canada in 1996. He has consistently expressed fears that he will be murdered if he returns to Thailand.

However, the Canadian courts have said that there is sufficient evidence against the Indian national for him to stand trial in Thailand, and have continually rejected his arguments that he fears for his safety.

Canadian press reports yesterday quoted a Canadian Justice Department lawyer saying it was unlikely that the British Columbia Court of Appeal would rule against the extradition on the grounds of probable torture, as the government has reviewed a number of reports and is satisfied his human rights will be upheld.

“The [justice] minister also reviewed a number of other things, including the new Constitution of Thailand and other documents, and came to the conclusion that, while there have been human rights abuses, he is satisfied that Mr Saxena himself will not be tortured,” Justice Department lawyer Deborah Strachan was quoted as saying outside the court on Monday. “The question for the courts is whether the allegations amount to criminal conduct in Canada, and the extradition judge found that they [the allegations] amount to fraud and/or theft in Canada.”

Saxena is accused of masterminding the embezzlement of three billion baht from BBC, leading to a rush of customers to withdraw their deposits in 1996, which led to the bank’s collapse.

The collapse of BBC is said to have contributed to the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

The Bangkok Criminal Court last month sentenced Krirkkiat Jalichandra, a former BBC president, to 20 years in jail for conspiring with Saxena to cheat the bank.

Another three former senior executives of the bank were each sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, and fined 666,000 baht.

In January last year, Krirkkiat was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay a 3.6-billion-baht fine on other charges arising from the same case.