Thai Deputy PM: Cambodia not issue passport to Thaksin

BANGKOK, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia did not issue passport to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra (pictured), according to Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban told reporters Friday.

"I was told by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen himself that there was no issuing a passport for Thaksin," the website by The Nation newspaper quoted Suthep as saying.

Suthep was reacting to remarks by opposition Pheu Thai Party MP Chalerm Yoobamrung, who earlier said Thaksin showed him the Cambodian passport among six or seven passports during their meeting last week in Dubai.

Thaksin was ousted by the military coup in September 2006 in accusation of corruption, keeping him in exile since then. Thaksin returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.

Editor: Deng Shasha

Embassy denies Thaksin has German passport

By: Bangkok Post and Agencies

Published: 22/05/2009

The German embassy on Friday denied local reports that former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is said to have six foreign passports, has been issued a German passport.

"Mr Thaksin Shinawatra does not hold a German passport," German embassy spokesman Theodor Proffe said.

Some local newspapers published stories on Friday quoting senior Puea Thai MP Chalerm Yubamrung as saying that Thaksin has passports issued by six countries, including Germany and Cambodia.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Thaksin did not have a Cambodian passport..

Mr Suthep said he had asked Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen about it and he had assured him that Phnom Penh had not given Thaksin a passport. He believed him.

Nicaragua issued Thaksin a diplomatic passport earlirthis year when he was appointed to promote the trade and investment there. He has also been issued with a passport by the government of Montenegro, in the Balkans, according to local media there and plans to buy an Adriatic island off the coast.

The former prime minister is living in exile after jumping bail and fleeing the country shortly before being sentenced to two years in jail on a charge of abuse of power while in office over his former wife's purchase of state land in the Ratchadaphisek area of Bangkok.