Thailand's Thaksin to face fresh charges


July 28, 2008 - 4:57PM [0657GMT]


Thailand's Supreme Court has agreed to accept another corruption case against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra that also implicates three ministers in the current cabinet.

Under the constitution, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, Labour Minister Uraiwan Thienthong and a deputy transport minister, Anurak Jureemas, must be suspended from their posts because of their links to the case.

"The court accepts the proposal according to the court regulations," Roongrote Ruenrerngwong, the judge responsible for the case, told reporters on Monday, adding that the next hearing would be on September 26.

Thaksin and 46 others are accused of violating the law when they legalised a lottery scheme, which an anti-graft body has said led to nearly 37 billion baht ($A1.15 billion) in lost revenue for the government.

Surapong was communications minister under Thaksin at the time of the alleged scandal in 2003, while Uraiwan and Anurak also held posts in the ousted prime minister's cabinet.

Under the new constitution - which was drafted and enacted by a military-installed government - parliamentarians involved in a legal process must relinquish their ministerial posts.

The ministers have indicated they may challenge this provision.

Current Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has already seen three top officials including foreign minister Noppadon Pattama forced out of office since forming his government in February this year.

The current case was forwarded to the Supreme Court by a now defunct anti-corruption body set up by the junta that overthrew Thaksin in a September 2006 coup.

Samak's election in December last year marked a return to democracy, but his close ties to Thaksin have angered the country's elite, who have staged protests against him and demanded the courts pursue cases against Thaksin.

The ousted prime minister is already facing trial at the Supreme Court for allegedly arranging for his wife to buy a prime chunk of real estate for just one-third its appraised value, while other graft cases are pending.

Monday's case dates back to 2003, when Thaksin's government introduced a new lottery, saying the move would eliminate illegal lottery operators.

But the way the new competition was managed and how its profits were used proved controversial, especially when Thaksin proposed using money from the lottery to fund his failed 2004 bid for British football team Liverpool.

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