I didn't pressure kamrob : Kasit

The Nation, 17/12/2009

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya yesterday denied ever instructing Kamrob Palawatwichai, then first secretary of the Thai Embassy in Cambodia, to spy on the flight of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Phnom Penh.

"Kamrob has performed his normal duty to process the extradition of convicted Thaksin in accordance with Thai judicial enforcement," Kasit said in a statement.

The procedure is the same treatment the ministry has to apply to every convicted fugitive who runs away from justice, he said. Finance wizard Rakesh Saxena was no different.

As Thaksin was confirmed as having arrived in Phnom Penh, the Thai Embassy had to report the information back to the ministry so the Attorney General's Office could be informed to commence seeking his return, he said.

The opposition Pheu Thai Party and Thai engineer Sivarak Chutipong, who was pardoned after being sentenced to seven years in jail for leaking Thaksin's flight schedule to Kamrob, have demanded Kamrob explain why he had to ask the engineer to share such information and who was behind him.

Thaksin said on Tuesday that Kamrob was assigned by his boss in Bangkok to seek his flight details and the diplomat reported back to Bangkok immediately upon obtaining the intelligence from Sivarak.

The biggest loser

Bangkok Post All eyes will now be on the Thai "spy" Sivarak Chutipong as he is back in his homeland. Politicians will surround him hoping to take credit for his freedom. Some people will look at him and see the perfect victim, the guy who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, the biggest loser in this power struggle with no rules of engagement.

If the flight data was public information (as it obviously was) why did its staff have to bother Sivarak in the first place?

I feel sympathy for Sivarak but I do not think he is the "biggest loser". There certainly are many bigger buffoons in this diplomatic brouhaha: Former premier Thaksin, who feels the need to serve as Cambodia's economic adviser just to irk the Abhisit government. PM Abhisit, who overplayed the part a little when he proposed that the Thai-Cambodian Memorandum of Understanding be torn up. PM Hun Sen, who's orchestrated the Thai domestic strife for his own benefit so ostensibly it makes some people wonder if he were a member of the Thai opposition party. And members of the opposition party, who've been scurrying around like hungry rats at the smell of cheese as they try to cash in as much as possible on the suffering of both Sivarak and his mother.

Sivarak has paid the price of fulfilling his duty as a "good citizen" by spending sleepless nights in a Cambodian jail. Now, shouldn't FM Kasit pay for the less than foolproof operation at his ministry, too?

If I have to choose only one person who stands to lose the most from this sorry saga, it would be Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can blame Hun Sen as much as it likes about the seemingly unnecessary conviction, and later pardon, of the Thai man. But it cannot escape its share of responsibility.

It can go on defending itself reasoning that the information it reportedly asked Sivarak to pass on to its staff - Thaksin's flight data - was in the public domain and therefore not classified. It can claim Phnom Penh was being childish and acting up. It can come up with any number of excuses. But it should also know that it does not have total deniability in this matter.

If the flight data was public information (as it obviously was) why did its staff have to bother Sivarak in the first place? It's true that the claim is according to Sivarak's testimony to the Phnom Penh court, but the ministry has neither confirmed nor denied the allegation. It has not come out to clearly state what actually happened: did it, or did it not ask Sivarak to supply the information? With the tension between the two countries making headlines every day, there is also this question: Shouldn't our Foreign Ministry know better than to put one of our citizens at risk?

So, PM Hun Sen is as much to blame as the Thai government in cooking up the spy charge; but as head of the organisation whose staff was implicated in the arrest and trial of a fellow Thai man without adequate reason or clear defence, FM Kasit should show his spirit.

Out of the frying pan into the fire?

Bangkok Post Spy or Tool
The B-grade spying soup opera ended abruptly in the same amazing fashion that it started with the convicted Thai spy now out of jail and due to fly home this evening, but this doesn't mean the end of the show, as the Puea Thai Party is intent to making use of him for political gain.

In a news blog on Friday, Khmerization, the whole drama was played out like a soup opera on prime time television.

In the blog, the script was written and directed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen himself.

According to the script, the Puea Thai party was supposed to play the hero’s role in securing the release of Mr Sivarak, who was found guilty of spying on former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and by the Cambodian court last Tuesday and sentenced to seven years imprisonment and a 10 million riel fine (about 82,500 baht).

It went on to say the drama was a political and diplomatic game set up to canvass political support back home for Hun Sen and for used as a diplomatic cudgel against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in retaliation for his action against Cambodia over the appointment of Thaksin as the government's economic adviser.

I could not agree more with the opinion expressed in Khmerization.

Irate Sivarak demands answers

Bangkok Post

Pressure is mounting on the government and the Foreign Ministry to take responsibility for the arrest and conviction of Sivarak Chutipong who returned to Thailand yesterday.

Sivarak Chutipong gives his mother, Simarak na Nakhon Phanom, a kiss on the cheek at Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday on his return from Cambodia. SOMCHAI POOMLARD

Mr Sivarak was the first to attack Thai authorities, demanding that Kamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary of the Thai embassy in Cambodia, speak out and restore his damaged reputation by confirming he was not involved in a government attempt to get the flight schedule of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Puea Thai Party which, with the help of de facto leader Thaksin, pushed hard to get a pardon for Mr Sivarak after he was convicted last week by a Phnom Penh court for spying, vowed to take the issue to parliament to grill the government during the censure debate next month.

Yesterday the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by the opposition party, made further moves on the issue by demanding Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Mr Kamrob appear before it to clarify the spying allegations.

Convicted Thai spy released from Cambodian jail

Sivarak Chutipong (right), who was convicted last week of spying on Thaksin Shinawatra last month and pardoned on Friday, was released from Prey Sar prison on Monday in a ceremony held at Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's (left) residence in Phnom Penh.

Bangkok Post

Cambodia on Monday released a Thai engineer convicted and then pardoned for spying on ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, witnesses and officials said.

The release of Sivarak Chutipong came as Thaksin paid a visit to Cambodia that could inflame diplomatic tensions between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. Thaksin visited Mr Sivarak briefly in prison Sunday.

Mr Sivarak, 31, a Thai employee of the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, left Prey Sar prison early in the morning in a convoy of three cars after receiving a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni on Friday, witnesses said.

Mr Sivarak was initially sentenced to seven years in jail for supplying Thaksin's flight schedule to the Thai embassy when the former prime minister visited Cambodia last month.

After his release, Mr Sivarak went to a ceremony at the home of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to be presented with his signed royal pardon.

``From now on Sivarak has freedom and can carry out any business,'' Hun Sen said in front of reporters at the ceremony, which was also attended by Sivarak's mother and members of Thailand's main opposition party.

Thaksin has tete-a-tete with 'spy' in cambodia

The Nation:

Sivarak flies home today; ex-PM's second visit certain to stoke tension between neighbours

Fugitive ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra swooped into Phnom Penh yesterday and headed directly to the prison holding the Thai engineer convicted of spying, in a move destined to further strain ties with Cambodia.

Sivarak Chutipong, who was sentenced by a Cambodian court to seven years jail for leaking the flight plan of Thaksin's previous trip but was pardoned by Cambodia's king on Friday, will return to Thailand this afternoon, his mother Simarak na Nakhon Panom said.

Yesterday's meeting appeared to be the first time Sivarak had met Thaksin whose visit, the second in about a month, is certain to further stoke tension between the neighbouring countries. It has also been confirmed yesterday that Thaksin had requested Sivarak's pardon in a phone call to Cambodian leader Hun Sen.

Amid speculation in Thailand that the Sivarak saga was a political manipulation to reboost his image, Thaksin was driven straight from the airport to Prey Sar prison. Some 300 special forces troops were deployed along the route of his motorcade and around the penitentiary's compound.

Sok An to help Puea Thai bid for pardon

Bangkok Post: Cambodian Senior Minister Sok An is pledging to help the Puea Thai Party try to obtain a royal pardon for the Thai engineer sentenced on Tuesday to seven years in jail for spying.

"Senior Minister Sok An has promised to coordinate the letters [from Puea Thai] to [Cambodian Prime Minister] Samdech Hun Sen," Noppadon Pattama, a legal adviser to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and former foreign minister, told a party meeting by phone yesterday.

The opposition party was approached by Simarak na Nakhon Phanom, the engineer's mother, to ask party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and former premier Thaksin to help her son Sivarak Chutipong.

Mr Noppadon said the party had agreed to help Mrs Simarak with the pardon request.

Sivarak's family will seek a pardon through Hun Sen by working with the engineer's lawyer, Khieu Sambou.

Puea Thai will send three letters to the Cambodian leader, one signed by Gen Chavalit, one by its party members and the other by Mrs Simarak.

The party has assigned its members led by spokesman Prompong Nopparit to take the letters to Phnom Penh. They could arrive in the Cambodian capital as early as tomorrow.

Deputy Premier rolled red carpet for sys's mum

The Nation

Detainee's mother met at airport by Sok An, the Cambodian deputy premier, thanks to Noppadon's connections in Phnom Penh Ads by Google

Mother of the detained Thai engineer received a warm welcome in Phnom Penh yesterday, with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An waiting for her at the airport.

This second visit, facilitated by opposition Pheu Thai Party, allowed Simarak na Nakhon Phanom to spend two hours with her son Sivarak Chutipong at the Prey Sor prison on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital. She was also allowed to give him basic necessities and food.