Thailand's ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra asked his lawyer to
file a civil lawsuit against the Assets Examination Committee (AEC)
on Thursday, demanding more than 50 billion baht (US$1.5 billion)
from the panel after it froze the family assets worth more than 60
billion baht (US$1.8 billion).
Noppadol Pattama, Thaksin's legal aide, was quoted by the
Bangkok Post's website as saying that the lawsuit against 11 AEC
members was done because they froze Thaksin's assets without
following legal procedure but it was done at free will.
Noppadol said the freezing of the assets has defamed Thaksin's
family name and rid them of business opportunities.
He added that Thaksin will file a criminal lawsuit against the
AEC next week.
Last month, the AEC ordered assets of the deposed prime minister
and his family members in scores of local bank accounts frozen on
charges of malfeasance while Thaksin was premier and unusually
wealthy. The total amount of the frozen assets is as high as some
65 billion baht (US$1.97 billion).
The ruling came after the Constitution Tribunal on May 30
disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, founded by Thaksin, and three small
political parties on electoral fraud during a general election in
April last year. The election was later ordered null and void.
However, through a video clip released recently, Thaksin said
the AEC's order was unfair since they did not have enough
evidence.
(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2007)
