Thailand will continue prosecution of the land scandal purchase case involving ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman, despite the couple having jumped bail and living in exile in Britain, the official Thai News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Chief prosecutor Nunthasuk Poonsook, in his capacity as a member of the working committee probing the land purchase in Bangkok's prime Ratchadapisek commercial district by the couple, said that the prosecutor would continue the trial until the case is closed on Aug. 22.
Thaksin, ousted in a coup on Sept. 19, 2006, and his wife are still scheduled to testify in court on that day.
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Monday issued arrest warrants for the couple after they failed to appear at the court in the morning and also confiscated bail totaling 13 million baht (380,000 U.S. dollars).
The couple flew to London on Monday as Thaksin said in his handwritten statement distributed to media outlets that he and his wife would not attend the court hearing.
The couple was charged with purchasing the property at the questionably low price of 772 million baht (26 million U.S. dollars) from the Bank of Thailand's Financial Institutions Development Fund in 2003 while he was in office, which was against the constitution. Thaksin was subsequently charged with alleged corruption and abuse of power.
Both Thaksin and his wife, who was convicted on July 31 on a separate case of tax evasion and released on bail, have denied any wrongdoing.
Nunthasuk was quoted as saying that as long as the case is not closed, extradition requests for the couple cannot be lodged with Britain. Also, it has to be studied whether the guilty is committed in both his home country and the country where he is staying.
Touching on whether Thaksin could apply for taking political asylum in Britain, Nunthasuk said it is "up to the consideration" of British officials.
Source:Xinhua
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