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BANGKOK: Nearly two years after he was deposed by a
military coup,
former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday underwent trial on
corruption charges in the first of many cases against his family and
aides.
When royalist generals toppled
his government in September 2006, they accused Thaksin of widespread
corruption, undermining the nation’s democracy and insulting
Thailand’s revered king.
But the case actually before the
Supreme Court is far less sweeping.
Thaksin is accused of using his
political influence to help his wife Pojaman buy a plot of prime
Bangkok real estate from the central bank at one-third of its
estimated value.
If convicted, they each could
face up to 13 years in prison. Worse, they would have no avenue of
appeal because the case is at the Supreme Court.
“We are confident that our
evidence will be enough to prove in the court that Thaksin and his
wife are not guilty,” their lawyer Anek Khamchum told Agence
France-Presse.
Thaksin and Pojaman did not
attend the hearing, but two other former premiers, Chuan Leekpai and
Banharn Silpa-archa, both testified.
The case centers on whether
Thaksin as prime minister had direct control over the central
bank’s Financial Institution Development Fund, which sold land to
Pojaman at one-third of its estimated value.
Banharn, now a key coalition
partner in the current pro-Thaksin government, said the Prime
Minster had little influence over the agency.
Chuan, of the rival Democracy
Party, said the premier could influence the agency by pressuring the
Finance ministry, but Chuan said he had never done so.
The trial is expected to last two
months, but in the meantime, the courts will also tackle a series of
other cases against Thaksin’s wife and several of his loyalists,
including the former speaker of parliament and serving Cabinet
ministers.
The legal drama is unfolding amid
political protests echoing the instability that rattled Thailand in
the run-up to the coup.
Thaksin’s handpicked successor
Samak Sundaravej led his supporters to victory in December
elections, ending more than a year of military rule.
But just five months into his
government, Prime Minister Samak faces street protests led by the
same royalist activists who had targeted Thaksin in the months
before the putsch.
Thaksin has already suffered
several setbacks in the case.
More than $2 billion of his
assets have been frozen, while the court has rejected a request from
him to travel to China and Britain, where he owns Manchester City
football club.
Three of his top lawyers were
also jailed last month over claims they tried to bribe a judge with
cash stuffed into a box of sweets.
--AFP
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