bangkokpundit pundit's Library tagged no_tag →  View Popular

[Thailand's reputation as a Southeast Asian country with strong anti-smoking laws faces a direct challenge from the tobacco multinational companies that are due to gather in the Thai capital in November for a major industry congress and exhibition.
...The role of The Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, a government body that enjoys nearly 75% of the cigarette market share locally, is also being called into question. It is a major backer of the November trade fair. ]

BP: Thailand had very-strict anti-smoking laws.

www.atimes.com/...KH29Ae01.html - Preview

[A source in a security agency, referring to the recording that was almost certainly faked, said: 'It is a classic 'third hand' action meant to spark violence.'

The recording has found its way onto the Internet. One website that posted it has been closed down by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, as the authorities tried to trace the tape's origin. ]

BP: also see the expert opinion on the tape.

www.straitstimes.com/...STIStory_422819.html - Preview

[A filmmaking couple devised an intricate system of bribes to Thai officials in order to land lucrative projects such as the Bangkok International Film Festival, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday during opening statements of their trial.

Gerald and Patricia Green created shell companies and paid off the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Juthamas Siriwan, by transferring money into bank accounts of Juthamas' daughter and a friend so they would be awarded business contracts, said Jonathan Lopez, a senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.]

BP: The trial begins. Interesting defence strategy of admitting payments, but saying they were for consulting.

www.google.com/...hcNvT9LeiWV3X2nZzWBYAD9AAT6V00 - Preview

[Shares in Shin, valued at $2.1 billion on the Thai bourse, ended 0.9 percent higher at 23.00 baht after touching a 12-month high of 23.30 baht earlier. The overall Thai stock market was 1.3 percent higher.

The current value of Shin shares is under half the price Temasek paid, 49.25 baht, in January 2006.[

www.reuters.com/...idUSBKK50684220090824 - Preview

[Supporters of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra announced plans on Friday to rally outside Government House later this month and demand the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

"We will call on Abhisit to dissolve the house because he is clearly an incompetent leader," said Nattawut Saikeau, a core leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the "red shirts".]

in.reuters.com/...idINIndia-41892120090821 - Preview

[Prosecutors disagree, claiming the Greens paid more than $1.8 million to Juthamas Siriwan, a former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, to help secure festival rights and related agreements. They also contend the couple inflated their company’s operating budget to hide payments, and disguised payments as “sales commissions” which they then paid into the account of a third party or directly to Siriwan in cash.

Legal experts say it all comes down to the purpose and intent of the payments. If the Greens did in fact alter company documents, then prosecutors could point to that as evidence of a nefarious purpose.

Obviously, the Greens intended to secure certain rights to the film festival, but it will be a leap for prosecutors to show they actually bribed government officials in exchange for the privilege. The law does not prohibit “facilitating payments” for “routine government action” such as police protection, phone service, unloading perishable products, or the processing of government papers such as work permits or visas. Arguably, the Greens paid well-connected people for their consulting services and nothing more. If so, prosecutors may be left with a case showing nothing more than possible tax evasion.]

BP: Article is slightly misleading and refers to Juthamas as a former governor. Yes, she is now a former governor but at the time she was the governor.

A single one off payment of say $10,000 to an actual former governor would be possible to explain away as consulting, but $1.8 million to the actual head of the organization in multiple payments to offshore bank accounts and labeling it as a sales commissions on internal records is something different.

www.examiner.com/on-trial-face-life-behind-bars - Preview

[“Grandpa” Lee scoops ground coffee into a long sock and slowly pours boiling water through it into a pan. He then decants the rich brew through another stockinglike filter into a tumbler.

He takes an appraising sip and nods. Another cup of kafe boran, or traditional Thai-style coffee, is ready. Customers can drink it straight or syrupy-sweet with lashings of caramel and condensed milk.

Lee Sata, or “Pae” (“grandpa”) Lee, brews coffee the same way he’s done it for 72 years – and in the same cramped plywood shop where he began serving it in 1937.]

BP: 72 years? Hmm, have a long way to go!

features.csmonitor.com/...d-70-years-of-traditional-brew - Preview

[France's foreign minister is urging that French tourists who travel to risky parts of the world be required to pay for their rescue, if needed.

He's proposing a draft law that would cover tourists, but not diplomats, reporters, aid workers and others engaged in professional activity abroad. He says the bill would promote responsible tourism at a time of rampant piracy and kidnappings across the globe.

Late last year, the French government paid to fly home 500 tourists stranded in Thailand during civil unrest.]

BP: Sacré bleu!

www.wztv.com/...26bf493c-www.fox17.com.shtml - Preview

[Some legal experts believe the main challenge facing prosecutors is proving that the Greens received the deals because they bribed foreign leaders.

"If this money ended up in the hands of (Thai) government officials, it's going to come down to showing what was the purpose and intent for these payments," said Jonathan Drimmer, a former federal prosecutor who focuses on foreign corruption violations and other U.S. laws.]

BP: Surely, the crucial evidence will be the bank transfers to Juthamas, details from the search which shows the payments were marked as "commission", and the evidence from the cooperating witness.

btw, excellent long article by AP

www.google.com/...hcNvT9LeiWV3X2nZzWBYAD9A44IAG4 - Preview

[Early in the fight against Al Qaeda, agency officials relied heavily on American allies to help detain people suspected of terrorism in makeshift facilities in countries like Thailand. But by the time two C.I.A. officials met with Mr. Foggo in 2003, that arrangement was under threat, according to people briefed on the situation. In Thailand, for example, local officials were said to be growing uneasy about a black site outside Bangkok code-named Cat’s Eye. (The agency would eventually change the code name for the Thai prison, fearing it would appear racially insensitive.) The C.I.A. wanted its own, more permanent detention centers.]

www.nytimes.com/...13foggo.html - Preview

[This is the scene of a battle the Jarai people of Kong Yu village have been fighting, and losing for the past five years.

It started when local officials called a meeting and said they needed some of the forest.

"They told us they wanted to give part of our land to disabled soldiers," said Mr Fil.

"They said if you don't give us the land, we'll take it. So we agreed to give them a small area, just 50 hectares." ]

BP: Note the audio part at the bottom of the article.

news.bbc.co.uk/...8144130.stm - Preview

[Before moving their production base to Bangphli Industrial Estate, the first Body Fashion Unlimited factory was in Silom. At the beginning, it was built to produce underwear. The 150 new employees included Thanyanun. At that time, 22 years ago, they received wages of 28 baht per day.]

BP: Yes, there is a human interest story to this, but it is the manufacturing process which interests BP the most.

www.prachatai.com/...1353 - Preview

[Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer dubbed the "Merchant of Death", is due this week to hear the result of his drawn-out fight against extradition from Thailand to the US.

A Bangkok court is set to rule on Tuesday on a request from Washington to extradite the 42-year-old former Soviet air force]

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/...0,25197,25905430-2703,00.html - Preview

[Newspapers have reported that the Election Commission has rejected complaints against the government coalition partner the Bhum Jai Thai Party and its boss Newin Chidchob (The Nation, 6 August 2009: “EC rejects complaints against Bhum Jai Thai, Newin”).]

BP: Newin's good luck since switching sides continues (well if one calls it "luck").

thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/...new-the-courts-at-work - Preview

[Senator Khamnoon Sithisamarn, an appointed member close to People's Alliance for Democracy leader Sondhi Limthongkul, has submitted an urgent question to the prime minister about army chief Anupong Paojinda's role in protecting the monarchy.

The senator said that after the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship launched its petition campaign for a royal pardon for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the House speaker, Senate speaker, many MPs, senators and academics had all decried the campaign as being unlawful and having a hidden political agenda.]

BP: How is the monarchy actually under threat?

www.bangkokpost.com/...nator-questions-anupong-stance - Preview

[Mr Sondhi's description of the attempt on his life as well as his naming of the likely suspects has pitted him against Task Force 90, to which some of the alleged shooters were attached.

The army is naturally offended.

It feels Mr Sondhi is being less than considerate with what some term as discriminating remarks about the army's possible involvement in the case, which has put the task force in disrepute.

A source in the task force said it was damaging, most specifically to the unit, for Mr Sondhi to have fired the verbal salvo across the board.]

www.bangkokpost.com/...ns-hurt-pride-of-task-force-90 - Preview

[The case of Hollywood producer Gerald Green and his wife Patrica is set to begin on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The pair are charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, having been accused of bribing a Thai government official in order to obtain management contracts ]

BP: Wise Kwai has more details. This has political and corruption implications as if they are convicted of giving a bribe, will the Thai authorities finally take action against Jaruwan?

thaifilmjournal.blogspot.com/...greens-trial-set-to-begin.html - Preview

[SCG reported second-quarter net profits of 6.83 billion baht, up 32% from the first quarter, but still down 5% from the same period last year.]

BP: More evidence that Q2 is better than Q1 and the economy may slowly be beginning to rise so if it is a green shoot then it is fairly small

www.bangkokpost.com/...scg-q2-profits-beat-consensus - Preview

[Malaria is becoming resistant to the most powerful drugs available, as the World Health Organization races to stop the spread of the strain that threatens to kill millions more people each year.

Treatments derived from artemisinin, the basis of the most effective anti-malaria drugs, took almost twice as long to clear the parasites that cause the disease in patients in western Cambodia as it did in patients treated in northwestern Thailand, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. ]

BP: Bloomberg have a link to the study and some more commentary - lead author is at Mahidol.

www.bloomberg.com/...news - Preview

[“It’s very embedded in the culture,” said Chris Baker, a Bangkok-based author and Thai political expert who has studied the role of supernaturalism in Thailand. “Most people don’t really question it. It’s like asking (Western politicians) if they believe in the Virgin Mary.”

Thai astrology often directs the timing of political endeavors. When deputy agriculture minister Supachai Phosu took office in May, employees born under the sign of the dog — the astrological rival to his sign, the monkey — were ordered to stay away from ministry headquarters. On his first day, his staffers were told to avoid wearing purple, red or orange and the minister stepped into his office at precisely 7:09 a.m., which carried some starry significance.]

www.globalpost.com/...supernatural-thailand - Preview