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Published on September 8, 2007

He says the funniest things, such as: "From this point on, I will not be involved in Thai politics." And the latest: "Neither my family nor I have done anything illegal."

The other day he was reported as threatening to sue Swiss banks for allowing his numbered accounts to be frozen. Today he says he has no numbered accounts and to forget the whole thing. What a crack-up! The guy should be a stand-in for Jay Leno.

Oh, in case the brass in Bangkok don't know, numbered accounts (clandestine ways to squirrel money away) are available in countries other than Switzerland. Try the Cayman Islands.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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Clearing up the account of the Swiss-bank report

Re: "Thaksin 'to sue Swiss banks' ", News, September 6. "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."

He said nothing of the sort. Please allow me to translate the relevant passage from the original article in the Swiss newspaper:

Journalist: The Thai government has frozen all your cash assets. [A statement, not a question.]

Thaksin: I will undertake all conceivable measures in order to regain access to my private wealth, which has been frozen. There is no legal justification for me being denied access.

Journalist: What's your opinion of this action?

Thaksin: It's clear that it's politically motivated.

Journalist: What action will you take against these banks [in Thailand.]?

Thaksin: I am going to sue them. I repeat again explicitly: my money is clean.

Journalist: What do you think of Swiss banks? [This is the first time that Swiss banks are mentioned.]

Thaksin: You can't throw everything into the same pot, but good old Swiss banking secrecy doesn't exist any more: absolute discretion belongs to the past. As soon as you want to transfer a lot of money to Switzerland, you get asked questions. Even when the money is judged to be clean according to the law. [This is a complete misunderstanding of the purpose and functioning of Swiss bank-client confidentiality.]

What can we learn from all this?

1) Thaksin was talking about his frozen assets in Thailand, not Switzerland.

2) Thaksin was talking about taking legal action against Thai banks, not Swiss banks.

3) Thaksin was upset because Swiss banks ask questions about money to be transferred internationally. This has nothing whatsoever to do with bank-client confidentiality. Swiss banks are obliged by law to ask questions to conform to anti-money-laundering laws and are also obliged by law to report suspicions of money-laundering to the authorities, not to the public or the media. Swiss bank-client confidentiality protects the privacy of honest customers. It has never protected criminals. In criminal proceedings the right to privacy can be suspended by a judge.

As a serious newspaper you should never use second-hand reports of what someone is supposed to have said without checking the facts. You have a duty to check the facts. You will notice that Reuters has since corrected its version of the story.

James Nason

Bern

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Employers contribute to poor safety standards

Re: "Our lives in constant danger", Editorial, September 7.

Your timely editorial is, of course, 100 per cent correct, as all of us who have been here for any time know. If I may add my two baht's worth:

Another disgrace is the level of casualties, both among Thais and tourists, from motorbike accidents. The police, in reality, do nothing to deter drunken riders and often refuse - there is no other word - to enforce the law on helmet use. This is particularly so on Koh Samui, where, it was recently calculated, deaths of bike riders, in a single year, match those of the entire UK in the same period. Needless to say, the real figures of casualties in Koh Samui are covered up. Why? I am not sure. Large boards showing casualty numbers are a popular way of publicising the perils of certain activities, but the powers that be in Samui refuse to let them be displayed.

I need hardly mention Bangkok's pavements. If, as in Europe, those injured by uneven and ill-kept walkways could sue the local authorities, I suspect the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority would be regularly made bankrupt. But of course pavements are not for walkers but for motorbikes, hawkers and food stalls.

One of the contributory factors to fire-safety problems is locked fire doors. This often happens because cashiers, receptionists and other hotel staff are made responsible for cash shortfalls if somebody leaves without paying. What cashier on Bt5,000 a month is not going to protect his or her position against a potential unpaid bill of thousands of baht? Allowing business-owners to enforce such feudal practices contributes to safety abuse.

An accident waiting to happen

Bangkok

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Paradise lost, not paradise found

Re: "Apirak pushes for 'paradise' ", News, September 7.

As unbelievable as it gets, Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin has urged city officials to support the plan to turn Bangkok into a "paradise on earth" by 2011.

Apirak wants Bangkok to provide a good infrastructure, but with its narrow sois, which were constructed in an age without the motor car, its non-existent "convenient transportation", as the buses are old and belch out staggering volumes of pollution, Bangkok will not attain his "vision" any time soon.

Parks, like in most modern cities, are virtually non-existent in Bangkok. Contrast this with Phnom Penh, where the French provided the capital with wide, pleasant boulevards.

There are few pavements to walk on in Bangkok. Where there are, they are hazardous and are filled with vendors. And what exactly does he mean by a "pollution-free environment" when the residents walk around with masks over their faces?

Good education is bought at a price by the rich, and Bangkok's cultural charms are few. Good health and happiness are hardly in abundance.

He then mentions a "sufficiency economy", meaning presumably the same home-grown street vendors proliferating on Silom walkways. Has he lost his marbles when he remarks that he wants Bangkok to become a "paradise" in four years' time?

More like the same old paradise lost.

James Groveway

Bangkok

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Twisting words to mislead the electorate

The more one reads the adverse comments made by sundry politicians and others regarding the EU's desire to send observers to the forthcoming general election, the more one realises that they are either totally uninformed or, worse, that they are attempting to mislead the public. Why? What would they prefer to keep hidden from the world?

How it can be possible to twist "observation", which has now become a commonplace exercise, into "control" is quite beyond understanding. It makes it all the more refreshing to read the sane and measured response given by Somsri Hananuntasuk when she was interviewed by Pravit Rojanaphrasuk in your issue dated September the 6. Would that these same people shared her obvious intellect and common sense.

Henry Ashe

Bangkok

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Samak shows only contempt for kingdom

Re: "Samak vows amnesty for banned 111", News, September 6.

I was not surprised to read this article revealing Samak's comment: "If I become prime minister, I will grant the amnesty to the 111 who have been banned".

It shows clearly this man's utter contempt for the Kingdom and its legal system and proves he would abuse the integrity of the judiciary and treat the country as a personal plaything.

He has exposed himself as nothing more than a man driven by self-interest and the interest of his cronies with scant regard for the good of the people or the country. There can be no room in a modern and fair society for demagogues of the like of Samak and Thaksin who have little real belief in the tenets of democracy but simply their own selfish gain.

Dr John Symons

Bangkok

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