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Published on September 6, 2007

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However, the Assets Exami-nation Committee and the Swiss Embassy in Bangkok denied any knowledge of a freeze on Thaksin's bank accounts in Switzerland, saying there had been no requests for such action.

The details remained sketchy yesterday about the amount of the money involved and whether the accounts involved belonged to the former premier or any of his family members.

Thaksin was reported as telling Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung that he would sue Swiss banks for freezing his accounts and revealing a customer's confidential records.

The newspaper quoted Thaksin in advance extracts from an interview scheduled for publication on September 16.

"Good old bank secrecy is no more. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past," he said.

Thaksin told the newspaper that he would be suing the Swiss banks "because my money is clean".

The AEC, set up to investigate corruption allegations against Thaksin and members of his Cabinet, yesterday said it had no idea what Thaksin was talking about.

"The committee has not come to any resolution to freeze Thaksin's bank accounts [overseas]," AEC member Jaruvan Maintaka said.

She added that the panel did not even have contacts with those banks.

AEC member Kaewsan Atibhodi said yesterday that the committee knew nothing about the matter. If the report was true, the Swiss banks might have moved on their own, he said.

Meanwhile, Jacques Lauer, an official of the Swiss Embassy in Bangkok, said Switzerland had no financial crime treaty with Thailand, so it would be hard for authorities here to make requests to impound Thaksin's assets domiciled there.

Swiss authorities would also never take action until Thaksin was found guilty with solid evidence, Lauer said.

Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said he could not comment on the report because he had been in China and had not communicated with Thaksin for a while.

The Nation