Cambodia yesterday rejected Thailand’s request to extradite Thaksin Shinawatra, deepening a rift over Phnom Penh’s appointment of the fugitive former Thai prime minister as an economic adviser.
Billionaire Thaksin, who was toppled in a bloodless coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday and received a warm welcome from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Three Thai diplomats gave extradition papers to officials at Cambodia’s foreign affairs ministry yesterday, but were then handed back a note from Phnom Penh formally denying their request, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter saw.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Our diplomatic note answering them is nothing beyond rejecting the extradition request,” Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said.
Cambodia has repeatedly vowed to refuse any request from its larger neighbor to extradite Thaksin and said in its strongly worded letter that charges leveled against him were “politically motivated.”
“The condemnation of Thaksin Shinawatra is logically the consequence of the military coup d’etat in September 2006, which resulted in his removal from the post of prime minister, while he was overwhelmingly and democratically elected by the Thai people,” said the Cambodian letter, obtained by AFP.
In Bangkok, the foreign ministry confirmed that it had received a copy of the Cambodian letter.
“Our legal experts are examining their reasons for rejection in detail,” spokesman Vimon Kidchob said.
Tensions are already running high between the two countries following a series of clashes over a temple on their border and the row threatens to mar a weekend summit of Southeast Asian leaders with US President Barack Obama.
Thailand and Cambodia recalled their ambassadors last week after Thaksin’s appointment, and this week the Thai Cabinet agreed to cancel an oil and gas exploration deal with Cambodia signed under Thaksin.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has threatened to tear up the extradition treaty with Cambodia if it refuses to send Thaksin home.
Thaksin is due to give a speech to 300 Cambodian economics experts today. Cambodian officials have said he will stay in the country for two or three days but is not intending to live there.
On micro-messaging Web site Twitter, Thaksin said yesterday he would “discuss with Hun Sen about Cambodia’s problems and its relations with Thailand, to improve understanding and find mutual ways to benefit our two countries.”
Twice-elected Thaksin fled Thailand in August last year, a month before a court sentenced him to two years in jail in a conflict of interest case. He had returned to Thailand just months earlier for the first time since the coup.
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