Former AEC spokesman says ex-PM Thaksin violated law
Written by Writer on Friday, October 24th, 2008
Former AEC spokesman says ex-PM Thaksin violated law
BANGKOK, Oct 24 (TNA) - The former spokesman of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) charged ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with violating the law after a Thai court sentenced him in absentia to two year in prison and urged the government to bring him back from London and put him in jail.
Sak Korsangruang, spokesman of the now disbanded AEC, said Tuesday’s judgment of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions which convicted Mr. Thaksin of violating the National Counter Corruption Act in the Ratchadapisek land purchase deal was clear that he had violated the law.
The verdict clearly said that no one dared to enter the land auction to compete for the purchase after Thaksin’s wife Pojaman, who was acquitted by the court, entered the bidding which took place in 2003, he said.
Asked what he thought about Mr. Thaksin’s planned to join a talk show by speaking from London on November 1, Mr. Sak said: “No fugitive would accept that he is guilty.”
His comments were made after Mr. Thaksin on Thursday wrote a letter to the media from his temporary home in Surrey, southeast England, saying that he was convicted “because I was a politician.”
Mr. Thaksin said in his letter that he represented a “threat” to various Thai elites who “believe in anything but democracy” because he represented the principle of liberal democracy which promotes hope and pride among the country’s poor.
In countering Mr. Thaksin’s statement, PAD core leaders on Friday urged the Thai government headed by Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, a brother-in-law of Mr. Thaksin, to seek his extradition from Britain because the statement posed a negative effect towards the Thai judicial system in the eyes of the international community.
PAD core leader Pipop Thongchai said Mr. Thaksin should state clearly whom he referred to as “elites” because his unclear description could damage Thailand’s reputation.
“The government must act to prevent any contempt of court. It must also bring back Mr. Thaksin and put him in jail or seize his passport,” Mr. Pipop said. (TNA)
