BANGKOK, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- A Thai engineer pleaded not guilty when he was charged in a Cambodian court on Tuesday, for allegedly stealing flight schedule of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, according to the Thai news agency's report.
Siwarak Chutipong, an employee of Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS), was arrested by Cambodian police nearly a month ago, on charges of stealing information on the flight schedule and passing it to Thai diplomats in Phnom Penh.
He faces 15 years imprisonment if he is found guilty, TNA said.
He, who was accompanied by his mother and some Thai diplomats, told the court that he did not send flight schedules of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Khamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary to the Thai embassy in Phnom Phen, as charged.
Siwarak told the court that he knew the secretary two years ago but had not contacted him until Khamrob called him to inquire about Thaksin's flight.
Siwarak admitted that he inquired about Thaksin's flight schedule from a Cambodian co-worker but he did not forward the information to Khamrob.
He said Thaksin's arrival in Cambodia had already been reported by the media 30 minutes before he confirmed the arrival to Kamrob.
Last month, after Siwarak's arrest, Kamrob was expelled by Cambodia and Thailand retaliated by expelling the first secretary of the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok.
Thaksin spent five days in Cambodia in early November in his new role as an economic adviser appointed by the Cambodian government.
The former Thai prime minister was ousted in a coup in 2006, and found guilty in absentia on violating conflict of interest rules in helping his wife to buy land from a state agency at a reduced price. He was sentenced to two years in prison by the Thai Supreme Court.
Thaksin has been accused of a number of corruption offences that he maintains are politically motivated.
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