Surakiart was testifying to the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office in the Bt76 billion assets seizure case against Thaksin.
Surakiart told the court that Thaksin did not expressed his disagreement when he warned Thaksin not to approve an additional loan to Burma for buying telecom services from ShinSat.
Surakiart told the court that the Thai government initially approved Bt3 billion to Burma for trade, agriculture, industry and tourism developments but the Burmese government later asked for US$24 million more for telecom development but he advised Thaksin not to approve it for fear of conflict of interest.
However, the Burmese government later sought Bt2 billion more loan, but the government negotiated for a reduction to Bt1 billion, raising the overall loan amount to Burma to Bt4 billion.
Surakiart said the Burmese government later asked for a reduction of interest rate from 5 per cent to 3 per cent on ground that the Laotian and Cambodian government got soft loans from Thailand at the rate of 2 per cent per annum.
Surakiart said when he informed Thaksin about the Burmese government's request of r a rate reduction, Thaksin replied that the consideration had to be as lenient as possible.
The Nation
