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Published on August 28, 2007

The first suit was filed against Justice Ministry permanent-secretary Charan Phakdithanakul, demanding Bt2 billion in compensation for his public allegation that Thaksin was responsible for 2,596 drug-related murders in early 2003.

Thaksin's lawyers also filed another civil lawsuit accus-

ing Assets Examination Committee (AEC) member Viroj Laohapan of libel and seeking Bt1.5 billion in compensation.

In his suit against Charan, Thaksin claimed Charan's various statements in many press interviews had misled Thai society and the world community into thinking that he had ordered the killings during his first term of service between 2001 and 2005.

"Everything the defendant has said is false, and is libel against the plaintiff in order to stain the plaintiff's public image in politics and business practice," the suit claims.

Thaksin has demanded Bt2 billion from Charan and 7.5 per cent of interest until the payment is made.

The Civil Court has accepted Thaksin's case (number 3879/BE2550) and set Nov 12 for a preliminary hearing.

In the other case yesterday, Thaksin's lawyer Sappawit Kongkanoi filed the suit in the Civil Court over media interviews given by Viroj, who heads the AEC subcommittee investigating alleged corruption in a Bt4-billion Exim Bank loan to Burma during the Thaksin administration.

The court accepted the case and scheduled November 27 to set dates for hearings.

Sappawit said in the writ that Viroj's interviews to the media on August 1 and 2 could make people misunderstand that the Exim Bank loan for the Burmese government to buy telecommunications equipment had yielded benefits of Bt596 million to Shin Satellite, a business owned by Thaksin's family at that time.

The contract was agreed between Exim Bank and the Burmese government. The Cabinet appointed a committee, which included the Exim Bank's manager, a Bank of Thailand deputy governor, directors of the Fiscal Policy Office and the Office of Industrial Economics, the head of the Department of Foreign Trade among others, to review the deal. Thaksin had no authority in the contract, the writ claimed. Moreover, Burma decided to do business with Shin Satellite without any intervention from Thaksin, it said.

Kesinee Tangkhio

 The Nation