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Published on September 7, 2007

Noppadon Pattama denied Thaksin told Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung he would sue a Swiss bank for freezing his accounts and revealing a customer's confidential records.

He said Thaksin had said in his interview with the paper he was politically harassed by the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), which froze his assets in Thailand, and had already filed civil and criminal suits against the AEC seeking an order to "unfreeze" his assets.

AEC secretary Kaewsan Atibodhi met Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday to discuss if the government can seek the truth over whether a bank had frozen Thaksin's bank accounts in Switzerland.

He said it had not been confirmed whether the Democrat Party website reported that the news was mistranslated.

Kaewsan said it was the responsibility of the Anti Money Laundering Commission (Amlo) to check the report - not the AEC. The Amlo said it had not contacted the Swiss anti-money laundering agency and the Swiss Embassy in Bangkok also said it had no knowledge of the report.

"The AEC cannot seek information from Swiss banks because it is beyond our duty. Banks would not give their client's confidential information,'' he said.

He also denied knowing whether Thaksin had failed to report assets kept abroad in his declaration form to the National Counter Corruption Commission.

Piyanart Srivalo,

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan

 The Nation