No word yet on about-turn: Abhisit

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Foreign Ministry yesterday denied knowledge of a reported about-turn by the United Kingdom that would allow political fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra to return to England.

The British Embassy was also tight-lipped over the report, which, if true, would become a diplomatic bombshell ahead of Abhisit's visits to the UK in the middle of this month, and again in April.

Some embassy officials suggested the embassy was in touch with London in a bid to find out if any action on Thaksin's visa had been taken.

The UK Home Office ordered revocation of Thaksin's visa last November, and official reasons appeared to be his conviction by the Thai courts in the Ratchadaphisek land case.

Abhisit said he was not aware of any UK visa U-turn. Some sources contacted by The Nation also doubted whether London would be willing to take such diplomatic risks ahead of Abhisit's visits.

Abhisit's Democrat Party spokesman Thepthai Senpong said the report could not be confirmed at the moment but he believed efforts were being made to get a response from London. The Thai Foreign Ministry also said it had not been notified of such UK action.

The report was attributed to an unnamed Thaksin aide who claimed that the former Thai leader had re-applied for residential visa in England and had been given one. The source claimed now England "has realised" that Thaksin's conviction was politically motivated.

Meanwhile, Thaksin's speech scheduled yesterday in Hong Kong has been postponed as organisers prepare the links for his phone-in. Abhisit yesterday maintained the government would do everything to get Thaksin to serve his legal punishment.

Thaksin told a foreign news agency in a phone interview he had postponed the speech because the Thai government was getting annoyingly paranoid.

Pongthep Thepkanjana, spokesman of Thaksin, said the postponement of Thaksin's video-conference speech at Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club was not because of pressure from the Thai government. It was due to technical problems of the organisers connecting the signal [but] it had not been formally re-scheduled.

"I don't know whether Thaksin's speech will be broadcast live to Thailand. It depends on others, the organisers, not the former prime minister. Pongthep said he did not think it was possible for Pheu Thai MPs to go and meet Thaksin as he was no longer in Hong Kong. "I myself don't have a chance to meet him; we just made contact through e-mails," he said.

Jatuporn Prompan, a leader of the red shirt anti-government protesters, said Thaksin had confirmed a phone-in to every rally of the red shirts in the provinces.

The next rally will be in Khon Kaen on March 8, followed by Ayutthaya, Chanthaburi and Chiang Mai.

Asked whether Thaksin's speeches by video conference would make it harder to arrest him, Abhisit said it was not easy to control a phone-in. Thaksin was still allowed to call Thailand.

Regarding Thaksin's possible extradition, the attorney-general was taking care of cooperation with China on that matter, Abhisit said.

"Any country having an extradition agreement [with Thailand] would have to follow the law," he said.

"However to request for an extradition is not easy," he said, citing the cases of Somchai Khunplome and Vatana Asavahame, who are fugitives abroad. "We have to process every case by every means we can, and that is a problem which the Justice Ministry is examining," Abhisit said.

"The government must take this issue seriously. Otherwise, it would mean that rich people can flee charges abroad and don't have to serve penalties according to the laws," he said.