Thais want Thaksin asset freeze over soccer deal

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Bangkok, Aug 2: Thailand's anti-graft body said that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra may have bought English Premier League soccer club Manchester City with money he had deliberately hidden from the government.

The Asset Examination Committee (AEC), set up by coup leaders after the last year's bloodless putsch, said the money Thaksin used to acquire Manchester City was never mentioned in the asset declarations all Thai politicians have to make.

''The former prime minister has abused his power by concealing his shares and converting them into cash,'' committee member Kaewsun Atibhodhi told a news conference yesterday.

''Therefore we need to find additional measures to freeze more of his assets both domestically and overseas,'' he said. ''We call this an unusually rich case, in which he can't explain how he has obtained those assets.'' The AEC ordered commercial banks last month to freeze 73 billion baht (Bangkok, Aug 2: Thailand's anti-graft body said that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra may have bought English Premier League soccer club Manchester City with money he had deliberately hidden from the government.

The Asset Examination Committee (AEC), set up by coup leaders after the last year's bloodless putsch, said the money Thaksin used to acquire Manchester City was never mentioned in the asset declarations all Thai politicians have to make.

''The former prime minister has abused his power by concealing his shares and converting them into cash,'' committee member Kaewsun Atibhodhi told a news conference yesterday.

''Therefore we need to find additional measures to freeze more of his assets both domestically and overseas,'' he said. ''We call this an unusually rich case, in which he can't explain how he has obtained those assets.'' The AEC ordered commercial banks last month to freeze 73 billion baht ($2.16 billion) of Thaksin's money in domestic accounts, accusing him of amassing wealth during five years in office by abusing his power.

Kaewsun, who heads a panel probing Thaksin, a telecommunications billionaire, did not say what additional power the committee would seek or how it could get overseas banks to help identify and freeze Thaksin's assets.

The AEC also ruled on Wednesday that Thaksin had ordered a state bank illegally to provide a soft loan to military-ruled Myanmar for satellite equipment it was buying from a Thai firm in which Thaksin's family was a major shareholder.

Viroj Laohaphand, head of the Myanmar loan panel, told reporters Thaksin's order to the bank to lend the Myanmar government 1 billion baht on top of 3 billion baht initially agreed had cost the taxpayer 100 million baht.

The panel's finding will be forwarded to public prosecutors to decide whether to charge Thaksin in court with abusing his power to benefit his family's business.

RIGHTS ACCUSATIONS

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called Thaksin unfit to own an English soccer club because of ''serious human rights abuses'' under his leadership.

In a July 30 letter to English soccer chiefs, the watchdog said numerous extrajudicial executions, abductions and disappearances happened during Thaksin's rule, which was ended by a military coup in September 2006.

In response, the English Premier League said it took such allegations very seriously. But its ''fit and proper'' test for club owners barred only people who had been convicted of offences, chief executive Richard Scudamore said.

''You can be assured that we will always operate within the law and will always take into account any evidence as verified by the appropriate legal process,'' Scudamore said.

The generals who ousted Thaksin cited ''rampant corruption'' as a primary reason for launching Thailand's 18th coup in 75 years of on-off democracy.

Thaksin's family cemented their control of Manchester City last month, when they took ownership of 75 percent of the shares in the struggling club.

Thaksin, who has been living in exile since the coup, has said his 81 million pound ($163.8 million) takeover would help improve Thai soccer and bring the good times back to a club which last tasted major success 31 years ago.

Analysts call the move a publicity stunt to boost his image among the soccer-obsessed Thai masses, whose votes gave Thaksin unprecedented landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005.

Much of Human Rights Watch's criticism stems from Thaksin's 2003 ''war on drugs'' in which around 2,500 people were killed, and the heavy-handed approach Thai security forces took in battling a bloody separatist insurgency in the Muslim-majority far south.

Reuters.16 billion) of Thaksin's money in domestic accounts, accusing him of amassing wealth during five years in office by abusing his power.

Kaewsun, who heads a panel probing Thaksin, a telecommunications billionaire, did not say what additional power the committee would seek or how it could get overseas banks to help identify and freeze Thaksin's assets.

The AEC also ruled on Wednesday that Thaksin had ordered a state bank illegally to provide a soft loan to military-ruled Myanmar for satellite equipment it was buying from a Thai firm in which Thaksin's family was a major shareholder.

Viroj Laohaphand, head of the Myanmar loan panel, told reporters Thaksin's order to the bank to lend the Myanmar government 1 billion baht on top of 3 billion baht initially agreed had cost the taxpayer 100 million baht.

The panel's finding will be forwarded to public prosecutors to decide whether to charge Thaksin in court with abusing his power to benefit his family's business.

RIGHTS ACCUSATIONS

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called Thaksin unfit to own an English soccer club because of ''serious human rights abuses'' under his leadership.

In a July 30 letter to English soccer chiefs, the watchdog said numerous extrajudicial executions, abductions and disappearances happened during Thaksin's rule, which was ended by a military coup in September 2006.

In response, the English Premier League said it took such allegations very seriously. But its ''fit and proper'' test for club owners barred only people who had been convicted of offences, chief executive Richard Scudamore said.

''You can be assured that we will always operate within the law and will always take into account any evidence as verified by the appropriate legal process,'' Scudamore said.

The generals who ousted Thaksin cited ''rampant corruption'' as a primary reason for launching Thailand's 18th coup in 75 years of on-off democracy.

Thaksin's family cemented their control of Manchester City last month, when they took ownership of 75 percent of the shares in the struggling club.

Thaksin, who has been living in exile since the coup, has said his 81 million pound (3.8 million) takeover would help improve Thai soccer and bring the good times back to a club which last tasted major success 31 years ago.

Analysts call the move a publicity stunt to boost his image among the soccer-obsessed Thai masses, whose votes gave Thaksin unprecedented landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005.

Much of Human Rights Watch's criticism stems from Thaksin's 2003 ''war on drugs'' in which around 2,500 people were killed, and the heavy-handed approach Thai security forces took in battling a bloody separatist insurgency in the Muslim-majority far south.

Reuters>