04 December 2009
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
PHNOM PENH: A Thai national held in Cambodia on spying charges, relating to a visit by fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, withdrew his request for bail on Friday.
Siwarak Chothipong, 31, an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, was arrested on charges of supplying details of Thaksin's flight schedule to his country's embassy when the tycoon visited Phnom Penh last month.
In a letter read in court, Siwarak, who did not appear for the bail hearing, said the "bail request is no longer necessary" because his trial had been scheduled for Tuesday. Judge Ke Sakhan of Phnom Penh Municipal court granted the request.
Siwarak's arrest deepened a diplomatic crisis over Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser and its refusal to extradite the ousted premier to Bangkok.
Cambodia expelled the first secretary of Thailand's embassy in Phnom Penh after alleging that Siwarak had passed information to the diplomat. Thailand reciprocated hours later.
Both countries earlier also withdrew their respective ambassadors in the dispute over Thaksin's appointment.
All Thai air traffic control staff were suspended from the Thai-owned civil aviation company that oversees Cambodian air space, after a Cambodian government official was appointed temporary caretaker of the firm.
Thaksin was toppled in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption, but has stirred up protests in his homeland.
Angered by his presence in Cambodia, Thailand put all talks and cooperation programmes on hold and tore up an oil and gas exploration deal signed during Thaksin's time in power.
Tensions were already high following a series of deadly military clashes over disputed territory near an 11th century temple on the two countries' border.
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