(Posted by CAAI News Media)
BANGKOK, Dec 8 (TNA) – Siwarak Chutipong, the employee of Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS) charged with espionage in Cambodia, pleaded not guilty at his trial on spy charges.
He faces 15 years imprisonment if he is found guilty.
Mr Siwarak, 31 went on trial, attended by his mother and Thai diplomats.
The defendant testified that he was contacted by a brother of his friend Kamrob Palawatwichai, first secretary of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh, asking about the flight schedule of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Siwarak went to his office and received a copy of the flight information from his Cambodian colleague but didn’t give that copy to anyone, but that he left it at his office.
He said Mr Thaksin's arrival in Cambodia had already been reported by the media 30 minutes before he confirmed the arrival to Mr Kamrob.
Last month, after Mr Siwarak’s arrest, Mr Kamrob was expelled by Cambodia and Thailand retaliated by expelling the first secretary of the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok.
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 of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and passing it to Thai diplomats in Phnom Penh.
Mr 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. (TNA)
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