Germany impounds the Crown Prince B737

[bigben]

FRANKFURT | Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:33am EDT
(Reuters) - A Boeing 737 (BA.N) used by the Thai crown has been impounded by insolvency administrators in Germany seeking payment of an old debt owed by the Thai government to a collapsed German firm.

Described by the administrators as a "spectacular coup", the jet, was on Tuesday slapped with forms and stickers from the bailiffs, photographs provided by the administrating firm show.

"We have been seeking payment of more than 30 million euros for years and this drastic measure is virtually the last resort," administrator Werner Schneider said.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/13/uk-germany-thaiprince-idUSLNE76C03X20110713

[attachment=0:1pge9m2p]Warrant-of-Distress.jpg[/attachment:1pge9m2p]

[bigben]

I wonder how long the two BKK based English newspapers will refuse to report this?

At least I didn't see it reported in either newspaper.....

Free press in the LOS? Yeah right.

"The тАж plane stood idle on the airport grounds Wednesday, with photos showing the court order тАЬagainst the Kingdom of Thailand represented by the Prime Minister Abhisit VejjajivaтАЭ affixed to the planeтАЩs door, forbidding тАЬany change, use or reduction of the (planeтАЩs) value."

"Whether ThailandтАЩs governmental 737 will be sufficient to redeem the debt remains to be seen. According to Avitas, the twinjet has a base market value of тВм9.6 million. However, with the large number of parked Classics, the current market value has dropped to just under тВм6 million."

Whastever happens it is still of great embarrassment for Thailand on the whole.

[neoncrusade]

Maybe they haven't bothered to impound any of the Thai Air planes in Germany because they are all so old they wouldn't be able to give them away :rolling:

[Beachlover]

I wonder if the Thais are forming any plans to "get it back"...

[thonglor55]

... praise god it's free at last. Or, more prosaically, "Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya left for Germany last night to seek the release of HRH Crown Prince Caligula's plane impounded at Munich airport by German liquidators since Tuesday to recover debts in a commercial bankruptcy case" - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... -royal-jet (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/247118/kasit-off-to-germany-to-retrieve-royal-jet)

[Khor tose]

... praise god it's free at last. Or, more prosaically, "Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya left for Germany last night to seek the release of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn's plane impounded at Munich airport by German liquidators since Tuesday to recover debts in a commercial bankruptcy case" - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... -royal-jet (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/247118/kasit-off-to-germany-to-retrieve-royal-jet)

Why not send the yellow shirts and seize the airport at Munich?

A Thai Foreign Minister
The issue might affect bilateral ties between the two countries if the outcome was unreasonable, he said.


That statement must have the Germans really worried!

[thonglor55]

A German court yesterday declined a Thai government request for an injunction to release a Thai-owned plane impounded at Germany's Munich airport early last week.

Judge Christoph Fellner said the court was not fully convinced the plane was HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn's personal property as asserted by the lawyer for Thailand. The court is to sit again on the case this week.

Full story (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/17/national/German-court-rejects-plea-30160443.html)

[thonglor55]

The Court has now decided on what seems to be a compromise (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/21/national/20m-euro-cash-guarantee-demanded-for-Boeing-30160793.html) - yes, the plane is the personal property of the Crown Prince, but he can have it back only when the Thai government posts a 20 million Euro bond against the settlement of the original case. And in breaking news (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/23/national/Crown-Prince-asks-govt-not-to-pay-for-plane-30160969.html) - the case won't return to the German courts until "late next month"

[thonglor55]

In one of those This Is Thailand thigh slapping moments, The Nation reports (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/30/national/Bring-case-to-Thailand-30161496.html) that Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) yesterday challenged the German construction firm Walter Bau to bring the investment conflict case over Don Muang Tollway to a Thai court to enforce the compensation awarded by an international arbitration tribunal - as if anyone in their right mind would pursue a case for compensation through the corrupt and venal Thai court system when they have alternative remedies in countries with truly enforceable contracts.

In one of those This Is Thailand thigh slapping moments, The Nation reports (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/30/national/Bring-case-to-Thailand-30161496.html) that Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) yesterday challenged the German construction firm Walter Bau to bring the investment conflict case over Don Muang Tollway to a Thai court to enforce the compensation awarded by an international arbitration tribunal - as if anyone in their right mind would pursue a case for compensation through the corrupt and venal Thai court system when they have alternative remedies in countries with truly enforceable contracts.


Well Thonglor55,

You can count me in on that one. I chose to think I would get justice and went forward in their system only to lose again at the final hurdle against all evidence, meanwhile, their own ex prime minisiter fled citing ' I don't believe I will get a fair trial under the present judicial system and the current climate in Thailand '

Are these people for real?? Aren't these the same people who were saying all those recent deaths including a 24 year old girl in a Chiang Mai hotel, owned by some government bigwig were 'natural causes ' Amazing Thailand indeed! How about nonsensical Thailand as a better or at least more apt slogan.

However, they are the FIRST to start jumping up and down like spoiled brats when they don't get their own way!

[Beachlover]

Occasionally, even the most buggered up and corrupt judicial system gets demolished.

I found this story interesting. A Chinese-Australian arrested and put on trial in China over some fabricated shite thrown at him because some State-owned company didn't like that he was saying no to them or something. They wanted him to give up his stake in the business in return for being allowed to go free. He refused and went to trial.

Now, in this very public trial (which the Chinese Government tried to make closed door) his lawyer has got them on the backfoot and things are looking up for the businessman...

http://www.smh.com.au/national/ngs-defi ... 1iryj.html (http://www.smh.com.au/national/ngs-defiance-places-china-on-defensive-20110813-1iryj.html)

Got to love his words...


This was a Chinese criminal courtroom, where the Communist Party is accustomed to controlling minutely every aspect of the legal process, and yet the bookish-looking lawyer from Hangzhou had forensically and charismatically torn apart the prosecution case.

"If you lose, you admit it. If you don't want others to buy more shares of the company, then you offer a higher price," Mr Chen said on the last night of the three-day trial.

"But why arrest people? You are severely damaging the image of China in front of the world, violating China's commitments at the World Trade Organisation, as well as Chinese and international law."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/ngs-defi ... 1iryj.html (http://www.smh.com.au/national/ngs-defiance-places-china-on-defensive-20110813-1iryj.html)