Tuesday, 10 November 2009 15:02 James O'Toole
THAILAND has begun preparing an extradition request to send Cambodia should fugitive ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrive here this week, the Thai ministry of foreign affairs said Monday.
“The office of the attorney general is preparing all the necessary information, which will be conveyed to the Cambodian government in due course,” Thai ministry of foreign affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Sunday that Thaksin, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a jail term for corruption, will give a lecture at Phnom Penh’s Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday in his new capacity as government economics adviser.
Cambodia says it will not extradite Thaksin because he was prosecuted for “political reasons”. The row led the two nations to withdraw their respective ambassadors last week.
Bangkok also threatened last week to seal the border with Cambodia in the event that the diplomatic standoff continues, though Thani said further downgrades of relations have yet to be authorised. Thailand, he said, is conducting “a review of where Thai-Cambodian relations currently stand, and we don’t want to prejudge the outcome of this review”.
Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong and Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said they were unsure when Thaksin would arrive in Cambodia or how long he would stay. Koy Kuong said Cambodia has had no communication with Thailand on the matter.
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