Thaksin not using Thai passport, adviser says
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Noppadon Pattama, a legal adviser to Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday dismissed an accusation that the fugitive former prime minister used a Thai passport to travel to foreign countries.
Saying Thaksin had been using his Montenegrin passport, Noppadon accused the opposition Democrat Party of discriminating against Thaksin when it was in power by cancelling his Thai passport. He said the former government had not cancelled passports of people sentenced to harsher penalties, such as Somchai Khunplume (‘Kamnan Poh’) and Vatana Asavahame.
The Democrat-led government disseminated false information that Thaksin was on Interpol’s red list and lied when it said that Thaksin was on a Foreign Ministry blacklist, Noppadon claimed.
He claimed the Democrat-led government had spent almost two years trying to hunt Thaksin down, but failed because foreign countries knew that the drive to arrest Thaksin was politically motivated. Many countries had granted passports to Thaksin, he said. Noppadon said the fact Thaksin had received his Thai passport did not cause any damage to the country. “The Democrats are making a lot of noise because they cannot stand seeing justice handed to Thaksin,’’ he said.
