Translation of Thaksin verdict to be sent to UK
Written by Writer on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
RATCHADAPHISEK LAND TRIAL JUDGEMENT
Translation of Thaksin verdict to be sent to UK
KING-OUA LAOHONG AND AEKARACH SATTABURUTH
Bangkok Post
Wednesday October 22, 2008
Prosecutors will make a translation of the court’s verdict in the trial of Thaksin Shinawatra and submit it in support of an application for his extradition to Thailand to serve a jail sentence.
Sirisak Tiyaphan, director-general of international affairs at the Office of the Attorney-General, said there will be a meeting on Monday to discuss Thaksin’s extradition.
Noppadon : Process could be lengthy
Mr Sirisak is head of the prosecution’s extradition team.
Seksan Bangsomboon, chief public prosecutor for special cases, said his office was responsible for translating the verdict, which would be sent to the prosecution’s international affairs office to help prepare the ground for the extradition request.
The prosecutors would speed up the extradition process, as the statute of limitation in this case was 10 years from the moment the verdict was handed down.
Thaksin’s personal spokesman Pongthep Thepkanchana said the decision on his extradition to Thailand rests with British law.
So far, he had not received any information that Thaksin had sought political asylum in Britain.
Noppadon Pattama, former foreign minister and Thaksin’s former legal adviser, said the prosecution had the right to seek Thaksin’s extradition but it was up to London whether to proceed with the request.
The extradition procedure through the British courts would be lengthy, said Mr Noppadon.
He believed that British authorities would also check whether the case against Thaksin was politically motivated or not.
He said a similar request was made to secure the return of fugitive financier Pin Chakkaphak to Thailand, but the British court decided not to allow his extradition.
Pin and other executives of Finance One were charged with misappropriating 2.1 billion baht from the firm, leading to its collapse in the 1997 financial crisis. Pin fled to Britain.
Mr Noppadon believed the bid to secure Thaksin’s extradition would be similarly protracted.
Virachai Plasai, director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s Treaties and Legal Affairs Department, said the department would send a translation of the verdict to the Thai embassy in London, which would then submit it to the British authorities.
The department had yet to be contacted by the Office of the Attorney-General.
No extradition request had been made for any criminal under the new extradition law, he added.
Democrat deputy secretary-general Thavorn Senniam called on the government to urgently ask London to send Thaksin back.
He did not believe Thaksin would come up with new facts to appeal the verdict within the 30 days allowed him.
People Power party deputy spokesman Boonjong Wongtrairat, however, said extradition was out of the question because the case was politically motivated.
