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BANGKOK: Deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra
pleaded not guilty Wednesday to corruption charges in the first case
assembled by military-backed investigators to reach court.
Thaksin said little during the
20-minute hearing before the Supreme Court, which was packed with
hundreds of his supporters who filled the courtroom and spilled out
onto the steps outside.
After a judge read out the
charges accusing Thaksin of using his political influence to win his
wife a sweetheart property deal, he was asked if he pleaded not
guilty. Thaksin simply replied: “Yes.”
The court also said Thaksin would
not have to attend every hearing in his trial.
The billionaire had requested
that the trial proceed in his absence so he can travel overseas to
tend to his investments, particularly the English Premier League
club Manchester City, which he bought last year.
Thaksin has already been granted
court permission to travel to Britain for a month. He is expected to
leave Thailand later this week.
Thaksin’s arraignment came less
than two weeks after his jubilant return to Thailand, ending nearly
18 months in self-imposed exile following the 2006 military-backed
coup against him.
Security was tight with 150
police patrolling around the court and conducting bomb checks on
cars near the building.
Wearing a black suit with a white
shirt, Thaksin did not speak to reporters as he left the court, but
greeted the hundreds of supporters waiting for him outside, many of
them carrying red roses for the fallen premier.
A few broke into tears as he
clasped his hands together in a traditional Thai gesture of greeting
and thanks, telling them: “Thank you, thank you.”
“Today we have denied all
charges,” his lawyer Pichit Cheunban told reporters after the
hearing. “We are confident that we can answer all questions and
defend against any accusations by the prosecutors.”
His son Panthongtae accompanied
him to the 20-minute hearing. His wife Pojaman has already pleaded
not guilty in the same case.
Thaksin and his wife each face up
to 13 years in prison over two graft charges alleging she used his
political influence to buy prime Bangkok property in 2003 from a
government agency at about one-third of its estimated value.
They have been ordered to submit
evidence in their defense by April 29, but no new hearing has been
scheduled.
The land scandal is the only case
investigated by a military-backed panel to go to trial.
The panel, known as the Assets
Examination Committee asked the Supreme Court this week to accept
another case accusing Thaksin of wrongly legalizing an underground
lottery.
--AFP
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