Former Thaksin legal adviser: UAE won't extradite ex-PM

BANGKOK, May 23 (TNA) - Noppadol Pattama (pictured), a former legal adviser to Thailand's fugitive, ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, on Saturday said it was untrue that the ex-premier had asked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to broker sending him to fight court cases in Thailand. Mr. Noppadol said the Abhisit government is tryin to extradite Mr. Thaksin, and sent Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot to convince the UAE to not shelter the fugitive. But the UAE is a sovereign government, and Thailand must respect its decision. The UAE “realises that Mr. Thaksin was topped from power in a military coup which is against democratic principles,” Mr. Noppadol said. Ousted in a coup in September 2006, Mr. Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile, believed to be in the UAE. The ex-PM Thaksin was convicted and sentenced to two years jail in absentia for manipulative involvement in a Ratchadapisek land deal conducted by his then wife. The ex-premier is said to have spent most of his exile in Dubai after his visa was revoked by Britain. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had revoked both his diplomatic and ordinary passports in an attempt to capture him. Puea Thai MP Chalerm Yoobamrung, a recent visitor to Dubai, said the fugitive ex-PM has six to eight foreign passports. (TNA)