Thailand's Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to open another trial against coup-ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra on charges of abuse of power in pushing a state loan to Myanmar allegedly to benefit his family business.
The court set the date Sept. 16 as the first hearing. Thaksin was accused of having abused his position as then prime minister by ordering the state-owned EXIM Bank to extend a loan of one billion baht (some 29.9 million U.S. dollars) to the Myanmar government in 2004 to develop the country's telecommunications infrastructure, a deal allegedly to benefit Thailand's telecom giant Shin Corp, then owned by the Shinawatra family and later sold to Singapore's Temasak group.
This is the third litigation against Thaksin in hand of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division of Political Office Holders, filed by the now-defunct Assets Examination Committee (AEC), whichwas established by the military junta that toppled Thaksin on Sept.19, 2006 to investigate corruption allegations against the former premier. The AEC's term expired on June 30.
The Supreme Court has already opened a trial against Thaksin and his wife Pojaman on charges of abuse of power regarding the purchase of a plot of land in downtown Bangkok by Pojaman from the Finance Ministry in 2003. Thaksin was accused of using his influence to help his wife secure the deal at a budget price.
Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court also decided to proceed with the trial against Thaksin and other 46 defendants implicated in a malfeasance case regarding a cabinet decision to launch a government lottery scheme in 2003.
Source:Xinhua
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