Saxena attends first court hearing, denies all charges

Saxena appeared fresh and arrived at the court in his wheelchair just before 10am. He wore sandals and prison uniform covered by a vest to keep him warm amid the cool morning weather.

The court read out the charges against him, with an accompanying translation into English. The court asked whether Saxena would confess to or deny the charges. He issued a denial of all charges through a written statement.

The court later set the date of the next hearing for February 1.

Saxena is being held at the hospital facility of Bangkok Remand Prison. The government won an extradition appeal last month and had the financial wizard brought back from Canada to stand trial for alleged fraud committed against BBC.

Public prosecutors accused Saxena of having violated articles 307, 308, 311 and 315 of the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Securities and Exchange Commission Act.

They also charged that Saxena, as former adviser to the bank's then-president Krirk-kiat Jalichandra, was involved in the scheme of having the bank extend a loan of Bt1.657 billion to City Trading, a paper company. The loan's approval was beyond the authority of the bank's management team and in violation of Bank of Thailand regulations.

Besides, the collateral pledged by City Trading was deliberately given an artificial value. The transactions took place between February 10 and July 27, 1995.

Khunacha Chaiyachumporn, a lawyer representing Saxena, said his client listened attentively to the formal charges and issued a statement denying all of them.

"I shall be meeting him again on Friday to work on the case," he added.

It was a hectic morning at Bangkok Remand Prison as the correction officials prepared to check out Saxena from the hospital facility so that he could attend the first court hearing.

Sophon Thitithamphruek, head of the prison, arrived at 7am to inspect the security measures.

About 10 officials from the Department of Special Investigation and the 191 Police Surveillance Unit formed the security force to accompany Saxena to the Criminal Court of South Bangkok, located more than 20 kilometres away on Charoenkrung Road.

Saxena was carried in his wheelchair into a steel-barred truck covered with thick, dark glass.