Weerachat Sribunma, director of the Legal and Litigation Department, said the British High Court had ruled that in spite of a judgement by the Thai court, the British court did not consider there was evidence of Pin's guilt.

The British court reportedly said there was no evidence of dishonesty or theft related to Pin's case. Therefore, the British government will not extradite him to his homeland as requested by the Thai authorities.

"If the British Court had had more time to probe all the evidence, it would surely have ruled to extradite Khun Pin. But we cannot do anything now," Weerachat said.

However, the Thai government's attempts to press charges against the well-known financier have not failed completely. If Pin were to leave the United Kingdom for any other country, Bangkok could press further for his extradition, he added.

Pin, along with other executives, is charged with embezzling Bt2.1 billion from Finance One. The company was closed down by the Finance Ministry in 1997 when the country was hit by the financial crisis.

Pin left Thailand the same year and was arrested in London in December 1999 after Bangkok asked the British government to extradite him.

Weerachat said Pin had full rights to fight the lawsuits should he choose to return home.

Finance One was the biggest financial firm against which the central bank filed legal action.

As of end-March, it had filed lawsuits against financial institutions in 34 cases worth a total of Bt52.7 billion. Twenty-four of these cases - worth a combined Bt46.42 billion - involve charges against the executives of commercial banks, said Arkabuth Krairiksh, a Bank of Thailand assistant governor.

Anoma Srisukkasem

The Nation