Thaksin sues Swiss banks

[Mid]

Thaksin sues Swiss banks

(BangkokPost.com) – Ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra has slammed several commercial banks in Switzerland for having lost their credibility in preserving clients’ classified data and vowed to file lawsuits against them.

"Good old bank secrecy is no more," Mr Thaksin told Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung. “Absolute discretion is a thing of the past."

According to the interview with the paper, some of Mr Thaksin’s wealth stored in Swiss banks have now been frozen.

"Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal," he was quoted as saying. "It is defamation."

He insisted that his money is clean.

Thailand’s Assets Scrutiny Committee earlier ordered a freeze on 1.5 billion dollars in his Thai accounts, saying they had been “illegally acquired”.

Mr Thaksin denied all allegations of corruption against him.

bangkokpost.com

[corvettelover]

More undeclared bank accounts ???

[NathairCeann]

And it couldn't happen to a nicer fellow , could it ? Suing Swiss banks ? Defamation ? Poor twat doesn't realise he ain't in Kansas any more.

[shehiredahitman]

He should launder a few more million on some more players for Man City while he's got any cash left, or his new-found friends there will want him out, too.

What's the odds of Toxin getting a bullet in the head in the not-too-distant?

[chinthee]

What an idiot. Everyone with private banking knows Switzerland lost its secrecy advantage years ago. Even Luxembourg has become iffy. I could give him much better advice....for a fee.

[AntRobertson]

"Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal," he was quoted as saying. "It is defamation."

Seems to be a very Thai thing to do that, cry defamation and sue in the face of things like this - even moreso than the Yanks in some respects.

Everytime some 'important' Thai is charged with something they immediately sue.

[Butterfly]

Swiss Banks have lost all credibility a long time ago, and so does Luxembourg after they stroke deals with the EU and the US Treasury

Singapore is still OK for bank privacy, but Macau seems to be the new place for "dodgy" money

[Troubled]

"Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal," he was quoted as saying. "It is defamation."

Seems to be a very Thai thing to do that, cry defamation and sue in the face of things like this - even moreso than the Yanks in some respects.

Everytime some 'important' Thai is charged with something they immediately sue.

Yes I concur.
In my understandiong the reason is that you do not have to prove the statement untrue but that it harmed the individual concerned or lost him business.
This neatly keeps a lid on criticism of those running things

[panama hat]

He does seem to be keeping his finger up his arse quite nicely.

By declaring undeclared bank accounts he has opened himself up for further investigation by Thai authorities . . . how smart he is . . .

[NathairCeann]

^ Presumably , as the request to freeze the funds must have come from Thailand , the authorities here would already have known. If they are succeeding in having overseas accounts frozen he should be worrying about all his other accounts. It's a real bitch to run out of money on holiday.

[panama hat]

^ Point taken . . .

Advice to self: switch on brain before commenting

[Mid]

^ sending in Russ was the prefered option .................

[panama hat]

^ Russ couldn't be part of it . . . I spoke of switching on brains

[Mid]

appoligies , just feeding the chooks ..................

[panama hat]

. . . you're calling me a chook? I'll be chucking some of Flo's pumpkin scons at you soon . . .

[Mid]

too much info ,

have a green as a peace offering .

[Thormaturge]

"Good old bank secrecy is no more," Mr Thaksin told Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung. “Absolute discretion is a thing of the past."

Those money laundering regulations are a real bitch aren't they, especially since Thailand has enacted its own regulations. Taksin needs a better lawyer if he thought he could launder Thai money through Switzerland.

[dirtydog]

Thaksin says Swiss money frozen

BangkokPost.com from news agency reports

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says his Swiss bank accounts had been frozen, and angrily said the country's vaunted banking secrecy was a thing of the past.

Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung quoted Thaksin in advance extracts from an interview scheduled for publication on Sept 16 that Swiss banks had frozen some of his money and that he would be suing them "because my money is clean".

"Good old bank secrecy is no more. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past," he said.

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok and a member of the Thai anti-graft panel set up to investigate allegations of corruption against him said they had no idea what Thaksin was talking about as there had been no requests for such action.

"This could be a tactic to win newspaper space," Reuters news agency quoted Jaruvan Maintaka, a member of the Asset Scrutiny Committee (ASC) set up after last September's military coup as saying. "We know nothing about it since we didn't do it."

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok said no financial crime treaties existed between the two countries, making it very hard for Thai authorities to make any formal request to freeze assets.

Furthermore, Swiss authorities would never contemplate action until solid evidence had come to light against Thaksin and he had been found guilty, embassy official Jacques Lauer said.

"There's nothing. There's been no evidence and we have not been approached in any way by the authorities," he said.

Graft investigators have frozen $1.5 billion in Thaksin's Thailand bank accounts and have issued arrest warrants for "official misconduct" in the Ratchadaphisek land scandal that involves his wife, and in connection with a share deal.

Thaksin defended himself and his family against allegations of corruption. "Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal. It is defamation," he told the Swiss newspaper.

He also criticised the military government's record in office. "The hopes of the country's poor for a better life have been shattered," Thaksin said.

Thaksin ruled out a return to his home country in the short term. He is living in exile in Britain, where he has bought Manchester City soccer club for 81 million pounds ($160 million).

[Butterfly]

looks like he got setup by some incompetent banker or is being robbed by a dodgy financial institution (very common in Swizterland and Luxembourg)

OWNED !!!

crying publicly about it without real evidence, PRICELESS !!!

[chinthee]

No, it's impossible he got owned. Switzerland's opening has been very well known for years. The President of Kazakhstan in a very public case of alleged huge bribery for oil rights was caught up in it not long ago.

Any good Zurich lawyer worth his salt advising anybody would inform them of this.

[NickA]

He also criticised the military government's record in office. "The hopes of the country's poor for a better life have been shattered," Thaksin said. Thaksin ruled out a return to his home country in the short term. He is living in exile in Britain, where he has bought Manchester City soccer club for 81 million pounds ($160 million).

cock

[dirtydog]

ASC dares Thaksin to sue Swiss banks

(BangkokPost.com) - Assets Scrutiny Committee spokesman Sak Korsaengruang challenged deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra to sue Swiss banks for allegedly freezing his family assets.

Mr Sak said the ASC has not made any contact with the banks to clarify why they froze his assets and what they have as evidence against Mr Thaksin.

If Mr Thaksin is filing a suit against the banks as reported by international media then the truth behind the matter will be known, he said.

Mr Sak's response came after a Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung quoted Mr Thaksin as saying that he would sue the banks "because my money is clean."

"Good old bank secrecy is no more. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past," Mr Thaksin was quoted as saying.

Mr Sak confirmed that the Shinawatra family members own bank accounts in Switzerland, but he denied saying whether they are under Mr Thaksin's name.

[dirtydog]

Thaksin goes into Swiss reverse

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did not threaten to sue Swiss banks for freezing his accounts in Switzerland because he does not have any, his chief spokesman said on Thursday.

Thaksin had been misquoted and his comments taken out of context by Swiss newspaper Mittelland Zeitung, said his lawyer and voluble spokesman, Noppadol Pattama.

"What he meant was his bank accounts in Thailand, not in Switzerland. The newspaper must have misreported what he said," the lawyer told the news agency Reuters.

The paper quoted Thaksin in extracts from an interview scheduled for publication on Sept. 16 that Swiss banks had frozen some of his money and that he would be suing them "because my money is clean".

"Good old bank secrecy is no more. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past," he said.

A second spokesman, Tim Bell, who is based in London, said the comments had been in answer only to a question about his thoughts on the state of Swiss banking.

"He doesn't have any Swiss bank accounts and therefore he doesn't have any that can be frozen," Bell said.

Graft investigators have frozen $1.5 billion in Thaksin's bank accounts in Thailand and have issued arrest warrants for "official misconduct" in a Bangkok land deal and in connection with a share deal.

Thaksin is already suing the Assets Scrutiny Committee, set up after last year's coup to investigate alleged corruption, demanding compensation for damage caused by the freezing of his assets.

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok said no financial crime treaties existed between the two countries, making it very hard for Thai authorities to make any formal request to freeze assets.

Furthermore, Swiss authorities would never contemplate action until solid evidence had come to light against Thaksin and he had been found guilty, embassy official Jacques Lauer said.

Thaksin defended himself and his family against allegations of corruption. "Neither my family nor I has done anything illegal."

Bangkok Post

[kingwilly]

oh yeah thats right i doint really have any swiss bank accoubts............

[Frankenstein]

It would be just his style to take something out of the air just to get media space.