AP-11/11/2009
Phnom Penh - Cambodia has turned down a request from Thailand to arrest former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last year was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court to two years imprisonment for violating a conflict of interest law.
A statement from Cambodia's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday said the request to detain Thaksin for extradition would not be honoured because the legal case against him was politically motivated, and therefore not covered by the countries' extradition treaty.
The ministry handed over a statement refusing to extradite the billionaire - ousted in a 2006 coup and later sentenced to two years in prison for graft - just seconds after officials from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh submitted the request.
'Cambodia considers the prosecution and legal process against His Excellency Mr Thaksin Shinawatra as a politically motivated proceeding,' the ministry said in a statement. It said it would not recognise the charges because Thaksin was toppled by the military after being 'overwhelmingly anddemocratically elected by the Thai people', adding: 'Taking into consideration these absolute realities ... Cambodia is not in a position to make the provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition.'
The rejection is likely to anger Thai authorities, already fuming after the former telecommunications tycoon arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday to take up a job as economic adviser to its government.
The diplomatic spat could undermine any attempt by South-east Asian leaders to project a united front in talks with US President Barack Obama on Sunday in Singapore, the first-ever meeting between a US leader and all 10 members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).
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