Money Freezing

Bangkok, Thailand -- The military junta, which seized power in a bloodless September coup, is wondering if the politically savvy wife of the ousted prime minister carried cash from corruption in two dozen luggage bags when she flew out of Thailand.

Earlier this week, a junta tribunal froze the assets of toppled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, plus the accounts of his wife, two of their adult children, and his wife's brother.

Their combined worth was estimated at about two billion U.S. dollars.

Bangkok's bankers, however, responded to the freeze by saying hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in Thaksin-tainted cash cannot be immediately traced.

Mr. Thaksin, self-exiled in London, has been visiting China, Japan, Indonesia and elsewhere to play golf, give speeches, and dine with cronies.

After being hammered by the junta's frequent declarations and convoluted justifications -- which are then boosted by cheerleaders within Thailand's otherwise muzzled media and political arena -- many Thais are either angry or delighted that the coup leaders are groping for his cash.

Some are having fun imagining Thaksin's fortune, and how difficult it might be to smuggle out, or convert to gold and other financial instruments.

The biggest denomination in Thailand's currency is a 1,000-baht note, worth less than 30 U.S. dollars.

Many countries, especially in the developing world, cap their currency notes in relatively small denominations to deter crime, because hiding millions of local bills requires a big, possibly detectable space.

If you laid, end to end, two billion U.S. dollars in 1,000-baht notes, it would be further than the distance "between Bangkok and London, where Mr. Thaksin currently resides," reported an anti-Thaksin, English-language newspaper, The Bangkok Post, on Thursday (June 14).

Citing geographic altitudes and illustrations, the paper said all those baht notes would stand taller than Europe's Alps, and almost as high as Asia's Mount Everest.

The junta's Assets Examination Committee (AEC) said it traced and froze 52 billion baht (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars) linked to Mr. Thaksin.

An additional 20 billion baht (about 600 million U.S. dollars) was reportedly transferred out of Thailand's banks one week before the committee declared the freeze on Monday (June 11), the AEC said.

"Do we want to allow those people, with ill intentions, to steal our nation's wealth, day by day?" coup-installed Prime Minister
Surayud Chulanont rhetorically asked in a nationally televised speech one day before the freeze.

The Bank of Thailand, apparently with AEC approval, recently allowed Mr. Thaksin's wife, Pojaman, to withdraw about 400 million baht (11.4 million U.S. dollars) to purchase property in London.

Earlier, just after the September coup, she flew out of Thailand with two dozen suitcases amid complaints that no one inspected her bags.

That prompted speculation that she may have moved baht, or other currencies and jewelry, overseas.

The freeze is not a seizure of assets, because Mr. Thaksin can appeal, and no court has ruled that his family's money resulted from corruption.

Mr. Thaksin and his relatives have denied all allegations of wrongdoing, but the junta's tribunal insists the freeze was necessary because it now has evidence to charge them in various corruption cases.

The junta also hopes the freeze will stop a swell of anti-coup, and pro-Thaksin, demonstrations in Bangkok, where daily rallies attracted thousands of disgruntled people this week.

The junta suspects the protests are funded by Mr. Thaksin, who was elected three times with up to 16 million votes.

Thailand is a "non-NATO ally" of the Pentagon, and U.S. President George W. Bush had embraced Mr. Thaksin because the combative prime minister assisted Washington's "war on terrorism."

After the coup, the U.S. criticized the crushing of democracy.

The junta, anxious to repair relations with America and other countries, issued a "White Paper" in March, justifying the coup.

One photo in the White Paper prominently displayed the national flags of the U.S. and Thailand during a meeting between the junta and an American official -- the only foreign flag in the 44-page explanation.

Staying with that pro-American theme, coup leader Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin reportedly held a "Cowboy Night party" on May 24 at the Army headquarters, to thank senior military officers for supporting the coup.

Gen. Sonthi climbed onstage and sang Elvis Presley songs to entertain loyal top brass.

Many in Bangkok's pampered elite and middle-class despised Mr. Thaksin because his populist, rural-based policies shifted power from some factions who had lorded over this Southeast Asian nation.

Mr. Thaksin also divided this country with monopolistic deals, an aura of impunity, and threats against free speech.

Others opposed him because "the narcotic suppression campaign of the previous [Thaksin] government had led to a large number of extra-judicial killings -- approximately 2,500 deaths," the White Paper said.

"Such action not only caused grave losses to the families of those who died, but also constituted a serious violation of human rights, of a scale unprecedented in a Buddhist society like Thailand."

ENDS