Thai authorities deny acknowledgment on alleged assassination plot against Thaksin

BANGKOK, November 5 (TNA) - Defence Minister Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol Suwanatat says that he has not received any information on a reported assassination plot against exiled ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol acknowledged Monday that the Myanmar government, not Thai security authorities, will take responsibility for Thaksin's safety during his scheduled visit to Myanmar's Tachilek town from November 8-10, during which he will meet high-level Myanmar authorities. The Thai defence minister's remarks were in response to Thaksin’s son Panthongtae Shinawatra's recent report that there was a murder plot against his father during his upcoming trip to Myanmar. The defence minister also insisted that a recent arrest of an illegal arms trade movement near the Thai-Myanmar border opposite Mae Sot district in Thailand’s northwestern Tak province should not have anything to do with Thaksin’s planned visit to Tachilek. Meanwhile, newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, who is also Foreign Minister, told journalists that he has been unaware of any plot to kill Thaksin and he has not contacted Thaksin for a long time. Surapong noted that the Thai government will announce on November 7 whether Thailand will recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) so that the court can handle such cases that people were killed and injured during past red-shirt protests in Bangkok, and that his ministry's Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs is finding out whether the Thai government is constitutionally required to seek a parliamentary approval for the recognition of the ICC. The Thai deputy premier also denied reports that he has allegedly asked the public prosecution or the ICC to handle a criminal case in favor of Thaksin. (TNA)