Thai prosecutors to seize former PM's billion dollar assets
Updated
Prosecutors in Thailand apply to seize convicted former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra's assets worth 3-billion US dollars. The money was frozen in the wake of the military coup that pushed him out of office almost three years ago.
Presenter: Karen Percy
Speakers: Chris Baker, political commentator and author
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PERCY: Thaksin Shinawatra continues to be a thorn in the side of the thai government. Last week the former prime minister was flitting around the south pacific reportedly in search of investment opportunities and perhaps a new home .. where there's no chance of extradition. This week he's been on the airwaves in northeastern thailand preaching to the red-shirted supporters who've been keeping his political flame alight. Today his lawyers are in court defending attempts to have 3-billion dollars of his money seized forever. Mr Thaksin hasn't been able to access the money since the military coup of september 2006, after he was accused of amassing his wealth illegally.
BAKER : I think he could get away with some of it or even perhaps all of it.
PERCY: Political commentator Chris Baker has written a number of books about Mr Thaksin.
BAKER : He's not like the old fashioned corruption where he's putting his hand in the till and you can find the receipts of him taking it out, it's not like that, he was engineering the use of the power of government in ways that resulted in the profits of his family companies going up.
PERCY: In a region where corrupt leaders are the norm not the exception, Thaksin Shinawatra still stands out. Chris Baker again.
BAKER: A simple example was over the ITV television station which had a contract with government of a certain sort which they had to pay so much on a sort of concession fee and they had certain limitations which limited how much advertising and he got a 3-member commission, the 3-member commission just happened to rip up this contract which meant that the concession fee came way down and the station could become much more profitable so in a stroke there he converted a lot of public money into private money and there were lots and lots of these but they're not illegal, it's not as if he didn't anything wrong but it was highly unethical.
PERCY: Mr Thaksin led Thailand for 6 years. He still stands as the kingdom's most successful politician, winning consecutive elections by appealing to Thailand's poor majority with populist policies including inexpensive health care and credit for farmers. Last year Mr Thaksin was found guilty of abusing his position while in office when his wife bought a large piece of land in central Bangkok for a fraction of its official value. This case, to permanently seize his assets, was launched in March, just before the east asia summit was held in Thailand., adding momentum to the Red-Shirted political movement. Political author, Chris Baker.
BAKER: It's immediately after that he started talking about revolution and putting his people on the street and he admitted in interviews with the foreign press that actually one of the reasons he was doing that was because he wanted to get his assets back, so there was a sense of political blackmail
PERCY: Mr Thaksin's tactics paid off .. when the east asia summit was disrupted in spectacular fashion when his supporters stormed the summit venue, sending thirteen regional leaders scurrying to get out. Two days later, there were riots on the streets of Bangkok. Next week Thailand is host to 26 foreign ministers, including Hillary Clinton from the United States and Australia's Stephen Smith. The government is not taking any chances. It's invoked the internal security act and deployed ten thousand soldiers on the island of Phuket where the meetings will be held.
