Saxena a political bargaining chip

Published on November 2, 2009

 
In the first part of a series, Thanong Khanthong reports that initial pre-bargaining talks could be underway between the Democrat-controlled police and Rakesh Saxena as the leading coalition party tries to zero in |on the big fish.

After a good night's sleep in the hospital within the Bangkok Remand Prison, Rakesh Saxena woke up yesterday morning feeling fresh and in higher spirits than on the first day when he was escorted back from Vancouver. Everything became surreal to him.

The long travel took its toll on his health, especially as he has been confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke in March this year. Part of the left side of his body is paralysed. He admitted that he was stressed because he could not sleep. But he was beginning to be able to adjust to the new environment, according to Sophon Thitithampruek, acting commander of the Bangkok Remand Prison.

The previous evening, he had a bowl of Mama instant noodle. Yesterday morning, he ate rice soup and milk, just like other inmates. Saxena was confined to a wing of the Bangkok Remand Prison Hospital, where prisoners with contagious diseases are kept. There are five empty rooms in this hospital area. The Bangkok weather is still humid and hot. Saxena was happy enough to have an electric fan to cool him up. The prison conditions in Bangkok are far from the comfort of his home in his US$1.5 million (Bt50 million) residence in Vancouver, where the Canadian authorities had kept him under a house arrest pending an extradition ruling. Last Thursday, Saxena lost the case after a 13-year legal battle.

Now that Saxena is back in Bangkok and is going to facing charges of allegedly violating securities law and embezzling billions of baht from the defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce, what will happen next? On TV he looked like a lost soul, who could not find his way around the City of Angels. But he still managed to keep his composure. Never underestimate the power of his brain and his political leverage as he still commands a big pot of wealth that can move the financial markets. After all, Saxena is a VIP inmate, who enjoys first-class treatment from the Thai authorities.

Saxena has now become a political bargaining chip. The Democrats are enjoying an upper hand. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has already made the overture by issuing a threat of his intention to catch other big fish in the net. He declared that the justice system would pursue any additional suspects found to have links with the collapse of the BBC, which caused some Bt200 billion in damage to the tax-payers' money.

Many former members of the Group of 16, such as Newin Chidchob, Suchart Tancharoen Varathep Ratanakorn, Sora-ath Klinpathum, would find it difficult to sleep peacefully from now on. Banharn Silapa-archa, then prime minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, then finance minister, and Vijit Supinit, then governor of the Bank of Thailand, could also be held accountable for the collapse of the Bangkok Bank of Commerce.

The Democrats now have rushed to take control over the police. The police are divided, but the faction that leans towards the Democrats has been assigned to handle the Saxena case. The police interrogated Saxena at Suvarnabhumi Airport and at the Crime Suppression Centre, where he spent the first night in a haunted cell. Many, who used to be locked up in that haunted cell at the Police Crime Suppression Centre, have come out to tell stories of a not-so-friendly ghost. They were haunted by the appearance of a man wearing a red shirt, who hung himself to death within that cell some time ago. Luckily for Saxena, the ghost did not pester him this time.

Some initial pre-bargaining talks must have already taken place between the Democrat-controlled police and Saxena. If he were to cooperate with the authorities by naming the other suspects in the Bangkok Bank of Commerce scandal, he could face a lighter sentence eventually. Saxena could be prosecuted by up to several dozens of other cases related to BBC with damages worth Bt10 billion. Before leaving Vancouver, Saxena also issued a threat by saying that he would reveal all the names involved if not treated fairly.

Krirk-kiat Jalichandra, the former president of the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, has also been keeping his silence. In one of the cases related to BBC, he has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is fighting an appeal in the Supreme Court. Krirk-kiat has all the secrets in his file. He was the one who signed all of the bank documents that gave out the sour loans. Saxena was the financial adviser of the bank then but he did not sign any documents. But the money flowed through the dummy companies both created as a camouflage of high finance.

Both Saxena and Krirkkiat can only protect themselves by telling it all. But then their lives could be in danger if they do so.

(Next: Who ordered the closure of the Bangkok Bank of Commerce to cover-up the loan scandal?)