Tag Archive for 'Thailand'

Of an Embassy and Brits in the ’sh*t’ - Blog

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on March 10, 2009
in Others
. 7 Comments

This is a blog only

The case of Simon Burrowes, ( Brit was jailed because Embassy did not like Fridays), the Briton who was put in a Phuket jail because his passport could not immediately be confirmed as legal is worrying in many ways.

Not least it is worrying because hardly anybody knew he was in jail in the first place. His plight did not come to the fore until he got out of jail and contacted a newspaper in London dealing with the issues of black people.

burrowessimons12It therefore follows that, had he not got bail, nobody would ever have known. The British Embassy would not have told anyone, except his nearest and dearest.

The fact that this happened in Phuket is all the more worrying. For many years I have been getting reports from local journalists that they are not allowed to cover cases there. If they wish to cover a trial all they can do is ask for the judgment.  Simon would have got totally lost in the system.

And at the end of the day Simon Burrowes was just a normal tourist going about his own business but desperately trying not to miss his flight.

And although he had managed to get a message out to his brother and travelling companion, a kick boxing ace, who have helped with bail and accommodation, he’s pretty much had to deal with this on his own.

And then Simon is black. I can’t help feel that  he is right when he says: ‘In Thailand there is no perception of a black Englishman’.

So when the British Embassy could not immediately find his passport record and told Thai police, it does not take much imagination to know how Simon Burrowes would be treated. (’Like a West African drugs dealer’) When he was beaten with a leather strap outside the court there were witnesses. But those witnesses would be foolish probably to take the matter further.  In any case he believes he was hit because the officer was ‘in the rhythm’ so to speak. He is big but he was handcuffed and could hardly defend himself.

When I spoke to him here was little malice about it in his voice. He was just gobsmacked and thought the officer in question was just showing off.

When the story from the black people’s London newspaper ‘Voice’ was picked up by the local, singularly pro-active, Phuketwan website, Thai Immigration police seemed to immediately close ranks. Simon was ‘abusive and aggressive’.  He was ‘not the sort of tourist we want’.  ‘He posed naked for his passport picture’. What sort of person would do that?’.

Much of it baloney of course.  Simon laughed about his passport: “Yes. To somebody else I probably look like a black thug,” he told me.  Of course he was not naked in his passport picture. If he was the picture would have been in Thai Rath a long time ago.  It was a head and shoulders picture. His collar bone was exposed!

On the other hand Simon did use the ‘f…ing!’ word, I understand on at least four occasions, linked on three of them I understand to ‘Thailand’, a female immigration officer, and ‘idiot’.

So there you have it. Face saving all round. No need to dwell on the criticism of the British Embassy. But it could have been more muted if they had handled it differently. But time and time again they seem to score own goals when dealing with the media.  And this case was no exception.

There used to be a time – 10, 15, but more probably like 20 years ago – when a journalist could approach the British Consul and say. ‘Hey, we have this story coming in. What’s the S.P. here?’  The conversation would be off the record. An ‘on the record’ quote would be agreed.

But you would get what you considered was an honest account. If the Embassy was in the wrong, but it was a genuine mistake, journalists would automatically cut them a bit of slack it if was possible. In those days we were in each others pockets a little. Not any more. 

The British Embassy is subject to many pressures. It is not short of rude and aggressive Brits queueing up the at the Consular section. They know about Brit tourist rage, Brit in love with bar girl rage. Hence the bullet proof glass was installed long before the ‘War on Terror’.

But in former days there were less tourists and the Embassy probably had more time to spend on individual cases. These sort of  Simon Burrowes things rarely happened.

Nowadays all press statements have to go through London, There are rigid rules about talking to the press. The most widely held unnofficial one is “ If you say nought you cant get into trouble”. (And if you do nought the same applies?).

But these or similar rules also apply to many other Embassies in Bangkok.  ** The cards are stacked against Foreign Office because they are faced with a media in which the general consensus appear to be that job title civil servants, especially an FCO one,  would come in sentences with other stock phrases such as  ‘cocktail parties’, ‘index linked pensions’ and ‘MBEs’. (Not my opinion by the way)  In many ways its a ‘No win’ situation.

And, of course, when they do do good things behind the scenes, few people get to hear about it either, because they won’t tell us.

Other statements almost written in stone are: “We can’t interfere in the justice system of another country” and “obligations of confidentiality towards our customers restrict us from discussing in any detail cases where the embassy has provided consular assistance”. (see below).

Actually there have been some high profile cases where they have certainly intervened.  It depends on the people and I daresay would not apply to black people from Wembley, not that I am suggesting anyone in the Embassy is racist.

The FCO is also entitled to defend itself against accusations if those accusations are unfair.

 I further have to ask myself that if I was an Embassy official and was called up by an Immigration policeman, who described the picture on a passport of a black man arrested at the airport as, naked, skewwiff, in the wrong place, and that the lettering on the passport did not look the same as on any other British passports, I might think that they probably did have a West African drugs trafficker.

Anyway I was frequently in touch with the British Embassy in the lead up to the breaking of the Burrowes story, during which I posed a number of questions to them. Their answers, as is usual, indicated immediately that they felt the less they said the better. The first questions went to them on a Thursday. The final answer the following Monday evening did not clarify the story at all.

Their last statement after the story had already hit the first editions of the Evening Standard  included a comment that at no time had they suggested that Mr. Burrowes passport was false.

I immediately put out the correction,  though of course telling Thai police they could not find a record of his passport would have had exactly the same reaction as saying it was fraudulent. Perhaps as websites are still the experimental arm of newspapers, only one in three newspapers online contained the correction. And yes, it was a tabloid.

I took a look again at my notes  “They told police that they could not find any record of my passport. It was not on their computer!” said Simon.

Of course the Embassy had failed to answer the question put to the allegation the previous weekend that an official had said they could not trace Simon’s passport number.

The FCO final statement that officials had to contact the office where the passport was issued (The British Consulate in Melbourne, Australia) posed all sorts of questions.

At the British Embassy in Bangkok there are full time passport officers and members of the British Border Agency, even members of SOCA, the Serious Organised Crime Agency. I would have thought somebody from this bunch could have provided the answers on a Friday.

The Embassy seemed to be saying there is no centralised system, or if there is, it doesn’t work. Seems to confirm that the TV series ‘Spooks’ is way ahead of its time”!  Well actually they are saying nothing. At this stage we can only guess.

Anyway I have taken the unusual step of reproducing my email efforts to get answers from the Embassy below. I have of course removed names of Embassy staff. It would not be fair to include them because they cannot and will not answer.

I have done this because  it may cast light on the problems journalists face and indeed might also help you see this from the Embassy side too. It is clear that the Embassy PPS was working within extremely tight restrictions so one can’t tell how much personal effort went into his replies. You can also see how my badly phrased questions enabled him to give incomplete answers. And how some questions were just simply ignored.

As for Simon’s claims that an Embasy official said: “I empathise with your self-righteousness’ and this was a ‘one in a thousand glitch’.  I had to use my own judgment. I believe him 100 per cent.  They are sort of the phrases one would hardly forget.

Simon was meticulous and I could tell that when he was talking that he was consciously trying to report everything as close to verbatim. He is also a published writer. And in his note gathering had got the name of every immigration policeman involved in his case.

Finally it would be also fair to say that the Embassy having visited Burrowes in jail helped make contact with relatives in the U.K. who stumped up his bail.

Anyway  I hope this story is a one day wonder and that the Thai authorities let this man go home soon. The British Embassy do not have to interfere with Thailand’s justice system.  They could just let the right people know that this case is not exactly what it appears to be.

**Finally and coincidentally. An independent report into the workings of the British Foreign and Commonwealth officer seems to have come to the conclusion that despite having some amazing talent it is suffering from ‘incompentents, clones and clowns’.  Here is the link to the Daily Mai. As I said the British media would be prone to highlight the bad parts of the reports.

‘Stagnation, decay and fear of failure is crushing the foreign office’ - Daily Mail

 
AD – Andrew Drummond
PPS: Political/Press Secretary, British Embassy,Bangkok

 

Edited March 11 2009/Edited March 17 for clarity and balance

Edited March 24 with new information.

 

11.11 Thursday March 05 2009

AD to  PPS

Dear (name removed)

I have been watching the various forums over the last few days and the case of Simon Burrows a British national who was arrested in Phuket on Friday Jan 30th by Immigration at Phuket and subsequently charged with possessing a fraudulent passport, and insulting Immigration officials.

I have now spoken at length with Simon B and witnesses to the events at the airport, and of course have seen the reports in ‘The Voice’ and ‘Phuketwan’.

Following this interview may I put the following to the FCO to check against his allegations and to give the FCO full opportunity to reply. I am sure the FCO may have a completely different version of affairs.

I understand the answer will come from the FCO and ask you kindly to give me the email to who in FCO Press, this should be addressed. I am giving you the questions in advance as I may have problems reaching you after midday Friday.

Is it true as Mr. S.B. claims that on the morning of January 30th that a British Embassy official (name removed) spoke both to Immigration Police in Phuket and Mr. Burrows?

Did Mr (name removed)  tell both Immigration Police and Mr. B himself that, Mr. SB’s passport number did not exist?

Did he tell Mr.SB that nothing could be done until the following Monday when his case would be prioritised?

Was the case ‘prioritised’?

Did he make Mr. S.B. aware that he was being charged with having a false passport and insulting an Immigration official? If only one charge, please state which charge.
(Mr. SB claims he was only made aware of one charge)

How long did it take for the FCO to establish that Mr. S.Bs passport number was in fact valid as was the passport itself?

Is the initial information, whether a passport number is valid or not, simply available by keying the number into a computer. If not why?

How long does it take for the FCO to establish whether a passport number is valid or not?

Having established that Mr.S.B. was wrongly charged with having a false passport what steps did the FCO take to notify the authorities and when?

“ When I asked (name removed), does that (nothing can be done until Monday) mean you are unwilling to do anything to stop them sending me to jail, he replied, ‘Yes’

Is this statement an accurate version of the conversation between Mr. S.B and Mr.(name removed).

What other assistance did the British Embassy (name removed) provide to Mr. S.B.

 ‘They could not be bothered because it was a weekend.”  SB – Comment?
Best wishes

 
————————————————————

15.58; March 5 2009

PPS to AD

Thanks Andrew
 
I have spoken to our consular team about the assistance provided to Mr Burrows. I have also asked Press Office for guidance overnight about how much of these details we could share with you, given the restrictions imposed by our obligation of confidentiality to our consular customers. I’ll relay this to you tomorrow.
 
Kind regards
 —————————————————————
AD to PPS
16:51 March 5 2009

Ok thanks. I’ll take what you offer.  I am just telling the FCO what this man is saying so they can address the issues if they so wish
————————————————————–
AD to PPS
11.08 Friday March               

As its approaching midday (name removed) can u give me the email/phone ext of the chap at FCO Press who is dealing with this just in case I need to contact him later.
————————————————————————————————-
PPS to AD
11.09 March 06 2009
Andrew
 
I will be replying to you shortly on this. 1230 latest.
 
Thanks
 
————————————————————————————-
12;29 March 06 2009  (Author’s comment. This was sent one minute before the Embassy closed for the weekend and the sender could not be contacted)

Andrew
 
As you are aware, obligations of confidentiality towards our customers restrict me from discussing in any detail cases where the embassy has provided consular assistance. What I could say is that in this case we provided efficient and prompt consular assistance. The issue was resolved as swiftly as possible (within 3 working days). The embassy has systems in place to provide consular assistance in emergency cases 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The embassy does not provide legal advice and has no power to intervene directly in criminal or judicial proceedings in Thailand. We do not recognise the account of events suggested by the questions and quotations you put to us. 
 
Kind regards

—————————————-

12.51  March 06 2009
AD to PPS

Thank you.
 Is there any overriding public reason in these days of terror alerts you can provide as to why the FCO cannot properly check the validity of a British passport number on a Friday? 

(Thai police have independently confirmed they were initially told the passport was false)
Or if you did, why the result was false.

Rgds andrew

————————————-

 

18.10 March 06 2009 (Friday
AD to PPS

Dear  (name removed)

I have referred the FCO reply to my queries onwards and upwards.  While the Editor concerned says he is used to such replies, this particular reply from the FCO contains what to all intents and purposes appear to be a mistruth.  Accordingly I have been asked to re-phrase the questions in the following way

On or about January 30th this year did or did not a member of the British Embassy staff inform Thai police in Phuket that a passport a British citizen was travelling on was fraudulent in that the number did not exist?

Did or did not the FCO also talk to a British national informing him of the same.

Did the FCO later retract that statement to Thai police. And if so when?

Was the case resolved and how?

Many thanks

Andrew Drummond

—————————————–
Sunday 08.03. 13.43
AD to PPS
Dear (name removed)
Ref: Simon Burrowes

Your statement: “As you are aware, obligations of confidentiality towards our customers restrict me from discussing in any detail cases where the embassy has provided consular assistance. What I could say is that in this case we provided efficient and prompt consular assistance. The issue was resolved as swiftly as possible (within 3 working days). The embassy has systems in place to provide consular assistance in emergency cases 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The embassy does not provide legal advice and has no power to intervene directly in criminal or judicial proceedings in Thailand. We do not recognise the account of events suggested by the questions and quotations you put to us”. 

I have held on to this story for a few days now and looking at your statement above thought you might like to reconsider it. There are reasons why this will not be published in a British newspaper, and I suspect it was not constructed by any of the journalists in the FCO press office.  Indeed the Mail on Sunday has already approached the FCO and been given further comments. Further I feel you may be doing the Consular department a disservice with this statement.

(1) Obligations of confidentiality towards our customers restrict me from discussing in any detail’ etc.

The customer in question has obviously lifted his right to confidentiality by complaining the Embassy would not work after 12 am on Friday January 30th to satisfy themselves that he was a British citizen, thus condemning him to a Thai prison.

(2) “The issue was resolved within three working days. The Embassy has systems in place to provide consular assistance in emergency cases 24 hours a day’.

 This issue is not resolved. Mr. Burrowes has spent three weeks in prison. He is on bail. He will not appear in court until the end of next month. He says he has already lost his flat in Wembley because he cannot pay the rent.  His case, as you know could take ages. Further you cannot claim the 24/7 rule in this case, because you have stated the Embassy only used ‘working days’.  Mr. Burrowes was not given the chance to call the duty officer’s telephone number. Had he the chance he would have been told ‘In the event of a life or death emergency, and only in those cases’ can he contact the duty officer.
(3) “We do not recognise the account of events suggested by the questions and quotations you put to us’ 
This cannot be published in a newspaper unless you explain what you think is the account of events.

If you did not understand, the main issue is a claim by Mr. Burrowes, that had the Embassy not told Thai police he was travelling on a false passport, had the Embassy checked properly he would not have been charged with having a false passport.  It therefore follows that instead of loading on extra charges of insulting a uniformed official, that they might have issued an apology to him instead.

Mr. Burrowes says his passport was issued by the British Consul in Melbourne nine years ago and has been travelling on it ever since. He specifically reports that at 10.40 am on Friday January 30th when he begged (name removed) to sort this problem out immediately otherwise he would go to jail. He says he was told that was not possible, but that it would be ‘prioritised ‘the following week.

He says he was not officially informed for 11 days that the Embassy had admitted their error and told Thai police. He is now is a system which is very difficult to get out of.

You may wish to stick with your original statement but if you wish to make any amendments I shall hold this story until Monday afternoon March 8th at 2 pm.

Have to go now as I have my baby daughter in the pool and am blasting the Russian Red Army choir over my lake.  I am not about to tell you your job, but, if it is true,  you might wish to say that the British Embassy pulled out all stops in this case and is monitoring the situation, even if you are unwilling to admit that Embassy staff gave Thai police false information in the first place.

 

With best wishes

Andrew Drummond

—————————————–
09.21 March 09 2009

AD to PPS

Can we say this?
The Embassy have denied that a consular official described Burrowes as ‘self righteous’ or that it was a ‘ one in a thousand glitch’

 

—————————————————————

10.53  March 09 2009
PPS to AD

Andrew
 
I’ve just seen all your emails. Thanks. I’ll get back to you before 2pm.
 
Daniel
11.42 March 09 2009
AD to PPS

Ok many thanks: 2pm is my first deadline on this. My note was intended to be helpful.
——————————————————————–

 
12.13: PPS to AD
Andrew
 
Any chance of an extension to the deadline until 5pm today?
 
Thanks
 
————————————————————————

(Email deleted but I confirmed I  confirmed I would hold copy))

 

12.13 March 09 2009
PPS to AD: Andrew
 
I appreciate that, thanks. We are just a bit hamstrung about what we could say, but I’m trying to stretch the limits on this. If I could have the extra time to discuss with press office directly (until 5pm today) that would be helpful. Let me know.
 
Thanks
 

___________________________________________________
12.45 AD to PPS

 Ok I am going with part of your statement and that the Embassy has no record of any official saying  ‘ It was a one in a thousand glitch’ and ‘I empathise with your self righteousness’.  But I will hold any story for British national papers until  after 5 pm.  This story may not appear anywhere of course but it scheduled for a daily run. I told MoS I cd not hold for a week.
Maybe honesty is the best policy. Its not a big deal (except of course for the victim)  in the general scheme of things -don’t help to make it one!  Rgds AD

————————————————-
17.25 March 09 2009
PPS to AD
Dear Andrew
 
The fact that Mr Burrowes has chosen to speak to you about the details of his case does not mean that we are free to do so. Our obligation to respect the confidentiality of our customers applies regardless of what information the customer chooses to make public. London have agreed that in this case we could say the following without breaching these obligations.
 
The validity of Mr Burrowes passport was resolved within three working days. We proceeded to check the validity of the passport immediately upon being informed by the police of his arrest on the Friday. At no point did the embassy tell anyone involved that the passport was false. The diplomatic mission that issued the passport replied to confirm the passport’s validity the following Tuesday. We then informed the police and they dropped that charge. The subsequent period of detention and court proceedings relate to a different charge.
————————————————————–
17.30 March 09 2009

AD “Gosh.(name removed). I’ve just got this off to the Standard so I can include it to all dailies.  We knew this guy’s passport was issued in Melbourne nine years ago, but for the life of me I don’t understand why there are no records in London.
This was in the nick of time.”

Pattaya journalists banned from covering criminal trials - Blog

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on February 13, 2009
in General News
. 7 Comments

This is a blog entry only

Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, February 13 2009

Now and again a little gem comes up on the net that’s worth giving a little further attention. And this one has actually been lurking up there for two years but I only came across it recently on Thaivisa.com when I was checking from interested parties, whether those arrested for murders of foreigners  and vice-versa had actually made it to court.  (Yes, there is no point in checking newspapers in Thailand)

It’s a post from that fine and upstanding Essex chappie Howard Miller, ‘Managing Editor’ of Pattaya City News (now Pattaya One News) and a black clad Tourist Police Volunteer Group Leader, (unkindly referred to by one Thaivisa poster by the accurate German translation of his title,  ‘Gruppenfuhrer’). His news operation regular comes in for stick from foreigners down in Pattaya for treating local police statements in the same way others might treat the Bible or Koran.

In his reply to criticisms that viewers are never told what happens to all those foreigners and Thais after they are arrested he announces that his journalists are in affect banned from the court!

Howard Miller:”I have been asked about this on a number of ocassions. On major stories such as this one ( murder - this was a story about a Thai mia noi who ordered the killing of her New Zealand boyfriend. AD), we are easily able to follow-up to it’s conclusion. However on some of the other cases (drugs, assault, immigration arresting foreigners and other minor crimes), the cases are sent to the court. We are not given access to the court. Please come to your own conclusions as to why we are not allowed to asign a reporter to the courthouse. PCN has been operating now for nearly 4 years and this constantly annoys me. Basically we can’t finish off the story and this frustration filters through to the reader on many occasions. Trust me on this one….I share your frustration but this situation will never change unfortunately”.

Just for a bit of colour on the subject of accuracy he goes on: “ Well, all I can say is PCN is guilty of ommiting some detail from a story some times, but I am confident that the information we give on a story is accurate to the best of our abilities. We must be doing something right because we sell our stories to Channel 3, Channel 7, Channel 9(MCOT) and ITV along with printed media, Matishon and Daily News national newspapers, on a daily basis. All are major national Thai TV stations and national newspapers in Thai language. We also deal with Reuters and other International news organisations when a major story breaks. This is in no way a “guarantee” that every piece of information is accurate, but even the “Big Boys” get it wrong sometimes, that is the nature of the job and is partly due to the pressures on us to get a story released as soon as possible. Other local news organisations do not have such contacts and for this, I am proud of every member of staff who works for me for making PCN a truly international news organisation. (sorry if it sounds like I am trying to sell PCN to you, but I am saying what I really feel)”.

Miller’s admission is absolutely believable. (Though his belief only minor crimes go to court is ‘out of court’ to so speak, unless murder is less important than overstaying a visa).

 When I go down to Pattaya on criminal trials I am often the only journalist there. Howard’s ‘international news’ boys go no further than the police station. It’s not because they won’t - ‘they can’t’ he says.

The ‘Big Boys’- Reuters, APTV, and the Thai national channels do not have the same problem and can and do go to the courts in Pattaya. But not very often. The problem the ’Big Boys’ have is trying to cover cases which sit only one day a month, and during which witnesses, especially police ones, frequently do not turn up.  Most organisations only go down on the judgment on bigger cases. (So they get no defence).

For many years judges in Phuket have banned local journalists, who are merely asked to print the judgment written by the judge. What Howard Miller is effectively saying is that the authorites have the local press fully in the bag. Its ‘pon prayote’ - for the benefit of all.

Anyway Howard Miller is not going to upset the ’status quo’ and defend the old chestnuts that ‘ law provides that justice should be seen to be done’,  and ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.

But at least we now know from the horse’s mouth. And needless to say his television news has not reported on the result of the New Zealander’s murder,  or those ‘minor’ matters which go to court, …or probably any result for that matter.

It probably also explains why the Pattaya Daily News lifted the pictures and result of the Maurice Prail case off this website.  No local press were at the court.

Anyway thanks for your honesty Howard. And if you want to know what happened to the bailed mia noi who allegedly inherited 700,000 baht.

Ask a policeman!

Meanwhile I guess Howard Miller will have to do some soul searching. His news is police-story led. The so called criminals are condemned at police press conferences by  local stations such as Pattaya One and they know that even if they are acquitted their names will not be cleared - unless they get a copy of the judgment and take it to the local media themselves. But an acquitall is never as good as the original story.

 

(edited Feb 17)

 

 

 

Old Etonian takes Thailand on a ticket of ethics and principals

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on December 15, 2008
in The Times
. 0 Comments

Old Etonian takes Thailand on a ticket of ethics and principals

Link to Evening Standard

Link to Daily Mail  Oxford Grad and former classmate of Boris Johnson is new Thai PM

From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok, December 15 2008

A former Eton scholar and Oxford University graduate was today elected Prime Minister of Thailand by a slim majority of 37 votes.

MPs elected Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the country’s Democratic Party, putting an end to rule, by telephone, of ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and the successive governments he attempted to control in his exile.

His opponent was a former Thai police chief Pracha Promnok of the Puea Pandin Party, a small party which at the last minute offered to accept the nomination for P.M.

Promnok accepted the nomination on behalf of supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, after the ruling Peoples Power Party was dissolved for vote-buying.

A special session of the Thai Parliament was held for the vote. But the country will in any case soon have to go to the polls and put the issue to the people.

Vejjajiva became Thailand’s 27th Prime Minister with 238 votes, over Pracha’s 198.

But to achieve victory, the soft spoken, good-looking, classmate of Boris Johnson,  had to do a deal ‘with the devil’ and form a coalition with factions run by old ‘Godfathers’ in Thai politics.

It was hoped that the election would bring an end to Thailand’s woes, which has seen the country split in two, by yellow-shirted followers of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, who recently occupied Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, and the red-shirted followers of Thaksin Shinawatra.

But immediately after the result was announced angry red-shirted protesters picked up railings outside Parliament House and began throwing them. They also threw stones at cars leaving Parliament House.

Members of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship believe Vejjajiva is a supporter of the PAD because of his anti-Thaksin stance.  They also believe that as Abhisit Vejjajiva is a member of Thailand’s old influential families, he will side with the country’s elite.

In fact he was against the military coup which ousted Thaksin and kept clear of politicking about the recent demonstrations. Traditionally he has always leaned to the left.

However the PAD put their support behind Vejjajiva, a class mate of Lord Mayor Boris Johnson both at  Eton and Oxford and a year above David Cameron,  because they regarded him as ‘clean’.

Born in Newcastle, Vejjajiva, 45, married with two children, entered Thai politics in the nineties, and became better known for his good looks rather than his policies, and became something of a pin-up in Thai women’s magazines.

His strong British connections, rather than help, may have actually hindered his path to power, in a political system which has been so riddled with corruption that it has ended in the recent demonstrations.

He has campaigned on a ticket of ethics rather than authoritarianism, better education, an increased minimum wage,  and will now almost certainly have to adopt and progress some of Thaksin Shinawatra’s policies to support the poor people in north eastern Thailand, who brought Thaksin Shinawatra to power.

Meanwhile Thaksin Shinawatra has clearly not given up his ambition to return to the political throne.
Convicted of corruption, and banned from Britain, Thaksin has been broadcasting to the nation from abroad  effectively running the People’s Power Party by phone.  He has told his supporters to be patient and wait adding that Britain ‘would feel sorrow’ from banning him from the U.K.

Meanwhile, while Abhisit , known at school as ‘Mark Vejj ‘  has not been brought up in the political mould of his friend Boris.

During his formative years in the Britain, where he mastered in political science and economics he has admitted: “I took part in many demonstrations against Margaret Thatcher.”

Boris Johnson has been quoted as saying of him: “He was an exact contemporary of mine at school and is a seriously clever fellow. I’m probably the only person in Parliament at the moment who can spell Vejjajiva, but that won’t last as I’m sure he’s going to do great things in Thailand. I spent a blissful time with him and his family in Bangkok one summer in the mid-Eighties.”

 Pictures: Andrew Chant

Right: Abhisit the Newcastle United supporter

 

 

ends

 

Thai rescue for stranded tourists - except for furious Brits

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on December 1, 2008
in The Times
. 0 Comments

 

 

Link to Daily Express article

 Thai crisis leaves thousands of tourists trapped at Bangkok airport

Link to Daily Telegraph article

Britons face long wait to get home

Link to Sky News story

Britons miss out on flights

Link to Daily Mail story

Thai protesters agree to lift blockade of airports after court sacks government

Link to The Standard

Britains may face more Thai chaos

Link to Daily Mirror story

Bomb blast kills one at airport

Evening Standard - Court sacks Thai government

thai-government-sacked-pm-to-step-down-after-being-found-guilty-of-corruptionj

Daily Mail - first flights out of Suvarnabhumi

 

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, December 1st 2008

The airlift of passengers trapped in the Far East took off  in earnest last night as airlines came to the rescue of most nationalities - except for thousands of desperate Britons.

 SAS had three flights for Scandinavians from Phuket, KLM came to the rescue of the Dutch. Air France provided a flight for the French. Jet Airways flew to the aid of the Indians. The Spanish provided military aircraft for their own nationals, Philippines Airlines went to the aid of Filipinas and the Italian government asked Alitalia to help their nationals.

Even Communist China has already got its citizens home on four rescue flights with just one more flight by China Southern Airlines to compete the job.

To add to that Thai Airways operated additional flights to Germany, China, Australia, Russia, Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong ….but none to Britain.

But Britain had nothing on offer. Some  of the luckier Britons were bussed 12 hours to Phuket to get a flight by Eva Air, the Taiwanese airline, who were offering one direct flight to the U.K.

So last night hapless Britons, many of whom had been trapped in Thailand since last Tuesday when anti-government forces took over Bangkok’s two airports, joined the long queues at U-Tapao airbase, 130 miles east of Bangkok, in the hope of getting home via another country.

The only other alternative was to get down to the island of Phuket and hitch a ride on one of three Quantas airbuses to Singapore where the Britons, were told they could wait for a flight to London. Quantas runs code share flights with British Airways.

Last night at U-Tapau airport Briton Neil Lindsay, 53, queuing miserably to get a flight to Frankfurt said: “ I now know that to be British it to be a world second class citizen. “I’m in the check in queue with a Welshman. I have been here forty minutes and have not got inside the terminal yet. “There are hundreds of Indian and other nationalities and all queues seem to funnel into one small door.”

Mr. Lindsay, from Wade Bridge in Cornwall, who has been stuck in the Ambassador Conference hotel in the Thai resort of Pattaya since last Wednesday added: “We are stuck here without a hope, but all the Germans sent to our hotel have gone home already. The last went on Saturday. We Brits just keep getting bumped.”

Lindsay is among 121 Britons of 1,200 Thai airlines passengers who were bussed by airline to Pattaya, 90 miles east of Bangkok from the besieged Suvarnabhumi international airport last Wednesday. At least 7000 Britons are now thought to be stranded in Thailand out of a total of 240,000 tourists.

“It’s quite clear that Brits are well down the pecking order when it comes to getting home. I have not seen any British Consular officials, but the Aussies have been here in force and I know they have flown to Phuket too, and have been using their influence to get their citizens home,” said Mr. Lindsay .

“I’ve seen them so often I know the Australian Consular people by name. “The British group keep putting their names on the list and they keep getting bumped off. Thai Airways have told us we can take their flights to Frankfurt, and then we are on our own. But we still get bumped.

“To my knowledge no Briton has managed to get on any of the flights to Frankfurt which have left over the last few days from U-Tapao. “I have seen people going out everyday and coming back dejected in the evening.

“I have rung up the Embassy twice, but they just say sit tight. I’m not surprised the Foreign Office will not supply charter flights to get us out, there are too many of us!

“I had been holidaying in Thailand in Northern Thailand and was due to fly back last Wednesday morning. My flight was one of the first to be cancelled.

“But that does not account for anything when it comes to getting a seat out of here. There has been queue jumping for any number of reasons.”

The Foreign Office has refused to charter aircraft on the grounds that that the skies over the provincial airport were too busy.

“The key issue is the fact the two airports in Bangkok are closed and therefore you’ve effectively got planes stacking up and not being able to get slots. The situation is tense and we are monitoring events hour by hour,” said Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell.

But the fact that many other airlines are flying seems to contradict that view.

There is hope today the People’s Alliance for Democracy who want the government to step down, will decide to end their occupation of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports in Bangkok.

The Constitution Court in Bangkok is expected to rule that the government People’s Power Party, run by Premier Somchai Wongswawt, should be disbanded for vote buying.

Most of the hate of the protesters is directed at Somchai Wongsawat, who has retreated with his cabinet to the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai, and his protégé, Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law, who was ousted from Thailand in a military coup, convicted of corruption and recently banned from Bntain.

Thaksin Shinawatra, a brief owner of Manchester City Football Club, is believed to be directing the government from abroad and says he wants to come back and save his country.

Brits miss out on Thai flights - Sky News

 

Thai police shooting case abandoned. Policeman freed

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 22, 2008
in General News and The Times
. 10 Comments

globe-and-mail-police-killer-released 

 

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok

 

November 22 2008

 

Shock as Thai policeman who gunned down Canadians in Thailand is released and case halted.

 

The Thai policeman who gunned down two Canadian tourists in the Northern Thai village of Pai in January this year has been released without charge by a court in Bangkok.

And the case against the police sergeant who killed Leo Del Pinto, 24, from Calgary, and Carly Reisig, 23, from Chilliwack B.C., has been brought to an abrupt halt because of ‘procedural errors.”

The case against police sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat had earlier been taken out of the hands of local police and placed in the hands of the Department of Special Investigations, Thailand’s FBI,  by former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

The Canadian Ambassador in Bangkok, David Sproule, who has expressed the Canadian government’s ‘serious concern’ was told by SDI officials , that they had been told by the Public Prosecutor that the procedural errors were made in the early stages of the investigation.

But those errors, the DSI claimed, were not by made by them but by colleagues of the policeman, Sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat in Pai Police,  whose chief has already been reported to the National Counter Corruption Commission by Commissioner Dr. Surasee Kosolnavin of the Thai National Human Rights Commission.

A DSI official said: “ The clock has stopped, but we can start it again and bring the case to court in Bangkok.”

The case has again raised concerns about the difficulty in Thailand getting police to accept culpability for their own actions.

 Leo’s father Ernie Del Pinto said in Calgary: “We all know there was a cover up in Pai.  That is why I believe the DSI was ordered to take over the case. They should be above all this.  This is very worrying. How long does it take to get any sort of justice in Thailand.”

 

 

The latest development is all the more surprising because a another Public Prosecutor was in the National Commission for Human Rights team which investigated the case in the vanguard of DSI officials.

Dr. Surasee Kosolnavin said  that he would rather not comment, as it was now a DSI matter, other than that he was disappointed with the development.

After the shootings Pai in January Police claimed that Uthai was shooting upwards in self defence as he fell to the ground.  An investigation by Thai forensic expert Pornthip Rojanansund, found the policeman had shot down into Del Pinto’s head.

The local police chief’s  claim that Sergeant Uthai (pictured) was attacked by the couple was also disputed by witnesses who are under DSI protection.

Canadian officials were told that it was a prosecutor in the Office of Thailand’s Attorney General, who claimed the investigation had not followed proper procedures.  Dechachiwat had to be released under a ruling which required  that he go to trial within 84 days or be discharged.  If they did not release him ,said the DSI, they would have difficulty recharging him.  This could be done after the procedural errors were corrected.

Meanwhile Ernie Del Pinto, whose campaign in Canada includes posters on Calgary city buses reading ‘Canadian Murdered in Thailand. When will justice be served?’, says he is planning to fly to Thailand to push for justice.

In a previous case, that of Police Sergeant Somchai Wisetsingh , who gunned down British backpackers Vanessa Arscott and Adam Lloyd in Kanchanaburi in 2004 , no witnesses would give evidence at his trial to say they saw the shooting, although they would admit as such to newspaper reporters.  Wisetsingh was convicted on forensic evidence after the parents of both victims, accompanied by British Embassy officials, who had voiced Britain’s concern, met with officials of the Office of Attorney General, Tourist Authority of Thailand, and the Provincial Court.

 

 

Gary Glitter - where they went wrong

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 20, 2008
in General News and The Times
. 3 Comments

(originally published September 2008)

When the disgraced former glam-rock star was released from jail in Vietnam, Bangkok based journalists Andrew Drummond and Andrew Chant made sure the convicted paedophile went back to the U.K., despite a Hong Kong diversion which was billed in the UK as Glitter’s Asian Tour 2008.

It was fitting as both Drummond and Chant were the journalists who had originally tracked him down to Vietnam and exposed his activities in Vung Tau after first finding his home in Cambodia.

But as Andrew Drummond reports he could easily have slipped away.   He also illustrates the role journalists are playing in this controversial issue of child sex abusers and the problems they encounter and the criticisms, some justified, they face.

 

“Look here. This is their card. On it, it says ‘Protecting Children Everywhere’  - but they are clearly not.  Had we left it up to Scotland Yard’s CEOP (Scotland Yard’s Exploitation and Online Protection unit) Gary Glitter would now be roaming free in Thailand.

“Once in Bangkok he could have got a false passport, changed his appearance, and quite literally disappeared.”

I’m talking to Sudarat Sereewat, a member of Thailand’s National Committee on Child Protection, and as Secretary General of FACE  (Fight Against Child Exploitation) the foreign paedophile’s worst enemy in Thailand.

Gary Glitter, real name Paul Francis Gadd, had finally been put on Flight TG901 to London after 48 hours of screaming, feigning illness, and balling out British Embassy officials and police.

But, as Sudarat intimated, he was within a hair’s breadth of freedom in Thailand. He just needed to escape a posse of reporters.

She adds: “It appears Scotland Yard was busily telling the world they were waiting to meet this man in London but they failed to tell Thailand’s Immigration department he was coming here.

In the ‘No Man’s land’ of Suvarnabhumi airport earlier this year I watched  as Scotland Yard’s  CEOP tried to get their man.

Because indirectly I, who was the person, who told Thai police what they were about to face, and initiated his Asian tour.

There has been considerable debate about the ‘Glitter’ story.  On the one hand its quite clear that there something quite appalling in the massive coverage Glitter’s latest tour and his subsequent hounding merely because Glitter is a ‘celebrity paedophile’.

The News of the World and SUN were leading the ‘Hang em high’ brigade, but there was, nevertheless, a pretty clear consensus that having served 2 years nine months in a Vietnamese jail for offences against Vietnamese children – his lawyers paid compensation to two families to avoid rape charges – he should be returned to regulators in Britain in all possible haste.

That’s what the British Government had planned,  but on August 19th at Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City as I waited to join Glitter, on his 8.50 p.m. flight,  there were already signs that something would go wrong with this particular deportation.

In London, Scotland Yard had leaked information to journalists that the convicted paedophile would be met by police on his arrival in Britain, specifically at Gatwick airport. He could not travel anywhere.

Scotland Yard even leaked to favoured and trusted journalists that he was flying to London via Doha by Qatar Airways. One TV crew actually went leaving my colleague Andy Chant holding the ITN card, myself running for Sky TV, and Jonathan Head and Andrew Harding alternating for the BBC.

Meanwhile Britain’s Home Secretary Jacqui Smith selected August 19th as the day she would announce new legislation which would stop convicted paedophiles  - ‘people like Gary Glitter’ - from travelling abroad.  This would be announced shortly before Glitter was led ignominiously off from Heathrow airport.

In Ho Chi Minh City Glitter’s lawyer , Le Kinh Tanh was also publicly saying his client was being deported to London, which was odd, as he had told my colleague Andrew Chant the week before; that Glitter was free a free man as soon as he left Vietnam.

I already had the print-out for Glitter’s reservation in ‘tourist class’ in seat 63K on the Thai Airways flight to Bangkok so I booked the seat beside him.

The Vietnamese authorities had announced that Glitter would have to travel tourist class.

So when a local Vietnamese took the seat next to me and Glitter took his seat in Business Class I knew that a local Asian deal had been done and pretty sure Le Than Kinh had done his client a last favour.

I immediately called Sudarat Sereewat in Bangkok.  We had discussed Glitter previously. We both knew that,  as he had no convictions in Thailand, no alert would go up if he tried to go through immigration unless someone took action.  She assumed the British Government had everything under control.  Scotland Yard had paid enough visits to Vietnam.

She quickly established however that Thai Immigration had no inkling of his arrival or for that matter who on earth he was, and had less than two hours to go to work on the case.

A fax was immediately sent to Police General  Chatchawal  Suksomjit,  Head of Thailand’s Immigration Police together with a copy of  Glitter’s full indictment in Vietnam,  which I had passed on earlier.  In it also were the details I had sent including Glitter’s passport number, and date of birth.

Sudarat made it to Bangkok’s just ten minutes before the plane arrived on the night of Tuesday the 19th.  Police there, led by Colonel ‘Pop’ Putiporn,  had been ordered to work closely with her.

 Thai Immigration Police were waiting at the aircraft door together with hospitality staff of Thai Airways. Glitter had told the cabin crew he was a star who wished to avoid the press.  

For the next 24 hours there ensued what Fleet Street concluded was an ‘oriental farce’ which began almost immediately as Glitter, first feigning illness, locked himself in a room airside at Louis Tavern, as a CEOP officer Martin Joss tried to coax him to go home. 

Flight TG901 was getting close to boarding.  Joss was failing, what’s more the Scotland Yard officer was in an unenviable position as he was there ‘unofficially’ and not accompanied, as is normal, by a Thai Police officer. 

Nor at first did he get a warm welcome from Sudarat.  His boss, Jim Warnock, Director of Operations at CEOP, had been particularly difficult, she felt, in helping secure the arrest of another British paedophile in Bangkok earlier in the year.

But if Martin Joss could quickly persuade Glitter that Britain was his only option then perhaps the problem would go away.

There was little Thai authorities could do, as the Vietnamese police had not given Thai Airways any documentation that Glitter was being deported.

But when Joss was asked whether he had any paper work showing Glitter’s convictions in the U.K.,” he said: “No,”  adding, a little timidly, that as this was not his jurisdiction he wished to keep a low profile.

He was however given time with Glitter, with Thai Police and Sudarat witnessing the interview.

Glitter remained rigid: “I am a British citizen. I am entitled to full rights. I have served my time and now I am a first class passenger.”

He now wanted to see a British Embassy official.

 Stephen Buckley, an Attaché representing Britain’s Department of Trade & Industry, whose duty that night was to answer calls from Brits in life or death situations,  arrived at 12.40 – just a few minutes before Glitter’s onward flight was due for boarding.

Glitter again demanded his rights.

“I’ll need to speak to the Ambassador,” said Buckley, diplomatically.

But flight TG901 pulled out before Ambassador Quinton Quayle could be contacted, or at least before he could give a reply.

The next morning Glitter spent some frustrating hours waiting for a ‘promised ticket to Singapore’ to arrive from Thai Airlines and the CEOP officer snuck up to Glitter’s room for some last minute persuasion.

 Perhaps as Jacqui Smith had already made her ‘Glitter is going nowhere’ proclamation broadcast , which could be picked up in Thailand this was again fruitless. He left telling Glitter ‘I am not missing tonights flight to London. If you are not on it I cannot help you anymore.”

And Thai Police were still in a pickle.  Although they now had a fax from Jim Warnock CEOP’s Head of Operations, saying that Glitter should sent back to London, there were still no details of his British conviction.

All they could do however, was, having warned Glitter not to attempt to go through Immigration, arrest him for being in breach of a police order if he did, and throw him into Bangkok’s Immigration Jail.  When that happened, they felt, it would not be long before he demanded deportation.

Not surprisingly, as he had a police escort, he did not attempt to get through immigration.

They chose the much simpler course.  They allowed him to fly on to Hong Kong, while telling the Hong Kong authorities to expect him and send him back with deportation papers.

I joined him on the flight in the seat behind. We spoke briefly.

He simply replied that he was going to Hong Kong from medical treatment. He was either feigning or had a lot of trouble hearing my questions.  Lots of shrugging and pointing to his ears. Then he spent time on his phone calling his lawyers in London and trying to fix his Hong Kong accommodation whom he seemed to hear perfectly.

Glitter was of course detained by the authorities in Hong Kong then sent back to Bangkok.  Glitter would now be on Thursday’s TG109 by hook or by crook. By now he was too tired to fight.

By the time he got to London however the British Government, and CEOP, and The Home Office had received a minor roasting by the press and by the public on internet forums.

The exception may have been the The Sun, who were happy with their report by Virginia Wheeler under the headline ‘Glitter stroke my arm and called me sweetie!” from the Vietnam –Bangkok leg.

CEOP will say of course that they notified the Thai authorities. They no doubt did. But their warning must have still been sitting in an in-tray in Police HQ.

Christine Beddoe of the charity ECPAT(End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) said that the British authorities tended to “turn a blind eye” to British nationals indulging in child sex tourism.

Sexual offences prevention orders were already in place, she said, which would compel registered paedophiles to tell the police when they intended to travel abroad, and allow the police to share that information with their colleagues at the destination country, if it is decided that the journey should even be allowed.

“But only five such orders were issued between 2004 and 2007 even though during that time some 15 British nationals have been charged in Thailand alone for sexual offence involving children”.

In the Independent newspaper, under the headline ‘The Real Scandal of Gary Glitter’,   Deborah Orr wrote: “Tabloid pursuit of Glitter may well be uncivilised and distasteful. …. But at least his lamentable tale has the potential to draw attention to a much more widespread horror. If the tabloids don’t track British paedophiles abroad, then no one tends to at all.”

And there Deborah Orr has it.  A British child sexual abuser in Thailand is much more likely to be identified by a member of the British public. And the public are much more inclined to call a British tabloid newspaper than Thai police, or even CEOP.

For two years now there has not been a Police Liaison officer at the British Embassy.  There is a member of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) but calls about sex offenders in my experience will all be referred to London. It’s not serious enough under SOCA’s rules of engagement.

When people tip off civil servants things can go badly wrong.

Earlier this year a member of the British public living up in north east Thailand sent an email to the British Embassy notifying them that his neighbour a registered paedophile from Accrington, Northern England, had not only been cheating the British Social Security system, by illegally claiming British government benefits while in Thailand, but had also had secured a job teaching at a school in Bangkok.

The reply he got from the British Embassy was classic.

In the case of the benefits fraud the informant was told to contact the Department of Work and Pensions.  In the case of the Brit being a registered paedophile who was teaching Thai children in Bangkok,  the Embassy told the man to contact his local police station in Isaan!

No wonder he called the London SUN who subsequently called me.

On this occasion I also contacted Sudarat, who notified Bangkok Metropolitan Police’s Women and Children’s Investigation Branch.   I also notified a very senior policeman in the UK and through him CEOP.

The CEOP call turned out to be a totally pointless exercise. All  calls were immediately diverted to the press office. Calls to the Embassy were also re-routed to the Press Office.  I did not want any press information.

Besides waiting for an answer from the Embassy’s press department can often take days and the answer is not usually worth waiting for, in the sort of enquiries I tend to make.

Andy Chant and I investigated the Accrington man, Alan Smith, (right)and we came to the conclusion that in any of these cases it really was not worth telling the proper authorities first.

 We found the paedophile,  verified the case,  and the man was removed from the school and deported without CEOP’s help.

Sudarat told us she had much more problems with CEOP than even we had.

Earlier this year the CEOP’ chose as their Liaison Officer on one of their publicised training courses  a political secretary at the Embassy, famous for describing a journalist from a respected Sunday newspaper, as being ‘scum of the earth’ during the 2004 Tsunami.

A short while later this young man was back in London.  He had taken to writing a blog in ‘The Nation’ newspaper which had to be stopped after two days, after it was described as ,well at best ‘patronising’, and bloggers reported him (no doubt falsely) as having been seen in Soi Cowboy, a red light area,  with a $5 whore!”

There are hundreds of ‘angry Brits’ in Thailand, out of sorts possibly because they have failed to get a Thai girlfriend back to the UK, so its open season when a British diplomat puts himself on the net, especially if he likes telling people how he sings karaoke with Thai generals.

Many people are grateful for the British Embassy’s help and I know of many such cases.

But the culture of ‘If you say nothing or do nothing you can’t get into trouble’  (a British official’s off the record comment to me, referring to calls from the Press) can sometimes seem all pervasive.  

The Foreign  & Commonwealth Office, however  can and does look after itself and itself.

After the 2004 Tsunami an independent report carried out by the National Audit Office in the United Kingdom was scathing in its criticism of The British Embassy anf FCO effort.

The British Embassy were duly congratulated by a Junior Foreign Office Minister for doing a good job and published a complete but unconvincing rebuttal,  which you can still find on the internet.

(Picture left: British Embassy Tsunami Desk Phuket!)

This year the British Foreign Office are again being condemned for obstruction and deceipt in the case of a Briton Julie Ward, 28, who was murdered in the Masai Game Reserve in Kenya 20 years ago.

The independent report compiled by Jon Stoddart, now the Chief Constable of Durham in Northern England, accused the British authorities of ‘inconsistency, falsehoods and downright lies’.  The Foreign office has already issued a denial.

The above reports are not criticisms by newspapers. They are from British Government departments written by government officers.

The FCO I am glad to say did not however go to the aid of a retired diplomat who was caught in Pattaya by a British Sunday newspaper and exposed under the headline ’Her Majesty’s Vice-Consul and child pervert ring’ for dealing in naked pictures of under-aged boys.

He ran a coffee shop as part of the ‘Boyz Boyz Boyz’ complex in Pattaya - see Fighting for Justice

But the whole point here is that If CEOP want to operate in Thailand to protect children from Britain’s child sex predators they should be talking to people here who actually know the business, who the predators are, and how they evade the law.  In short they need to get down and dirty.

The British government, and others, have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds, on courses to train people, especially police, how to deal with child sex offenders.

Cash would be better spent on individual cases to ensure justice. Because the cash paedophiles have enables them to elude justice. This is the reality.

I have been in Thailand for 20 years and have seen scores of paedophiles walk. British, Germans, Dutch, French, Swiss,  American, the lot.

A whole series of foreigners, among them three Britons, were arrested in Pattaya earlier this year, for offences against children.  Not many of them are still in the system.  One Briton in particular, known to the kids as ‘The Ghost’ has been bailed again, even though his latest offence was committed, while on bail appealing a 14 year jail sentence for the rape of two under-aged girls.

Only high profile paedophiles, such as ‘Mr.Swirly’ or Gary Glitter , appear to be unable to beat  the system, and usually only after an international furore. This is a basic fact of life here.

British law enforcement officers such as those from CEOP, have to go through the Royal Thai Police Foreign Affairs Division.  All well and good. But there they have to join the queue along with the world’s other police forces and the RTP often have bigger and more lucrative fish to fry.

It is at this point that a lot of back scratching, the ritual exchange of police divisional and departmental shields and plaques ,  the dinners, the Embassy socials, all come in to play.

Their job would be best served in the middle of the action rather than just familiarity tours of Pattaya’s Sunee Plaza.

Until then their motto, ‘Protecting Children Everywhere’, may just be a slogan and we’ll just have to leave it to those who are actually reeling in paedophiles abroad.  The international and tabloid press.

Tracking down Gary Glitter

 

 

 

 

Bangkok Canadian Embassy helped in Del Pinto murder enquiry

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on November 11, 2008
in General News
. 0 Comments

Canadian Embassy absolved of allegations of doing nothing over Leo Del Pinto murder. They were active behind the scenes.

Link to the Chilliwack Times, Canada,correction

Thaksin Shinawatra branded a criminal. Thais seek extradition

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on October 22, 2008
in General News
. 2 Comments

 

From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok Supreme Court, October 21 08
Former Thai Premier and owner of Manchester City Football Club was branded a criminal today and jailed for two years while ‘in absentia’ in England.
After finding him guilty of corruption in a land deal  the Supreme Court submitted the verdict to Thailand’s Attorney General to pass to Britain for extradition proceedings.

PAD protesters at Government House - Picture Andrew Chant
Thousands of Thais, members of the opposition People’s Alliance for Democracy were last night on the streets of Bangkok also calling on Britain to return Mr.Shinawatra  which they said would to put an end to the Bangkok stand-off -  which started when they seized control of Government  House here three months ago.
Sporting banners reading ‘Send Thaksin back now’ and ‘UK Government Stop Harbouring Criminals’ members of the PAD cheered and sent thousands of plastic hand-clappers off as the sentence against Thaksin Shinawatra, known as ‘Frank’ to Man City fans was announced.
But as a sign of how split the country is the judges only voted 5 against 4 for the conviction and they acquitted Thaksin’s wife of corruption as she was ‘not a member of government’.
Behind the calls for the return of Thaksin is the belief, held widely on both sides, that Thaksin Shinawatra, has been affectively controlling the leaders of two proxy governments since the military junta ousted him in a coup.   The PAD say only if Thaksin is in jail will he stop attempting to meddle in Thailand’s affairs.
Kanchana Malaithong ,45, from Lampang sporting a ‘Stop Harbouring Criminals’ placard outside PAD headquarters at Government House said: “The only safe thing for Thailand is if Thaksin is actually put in jail.
“He claims he is not involved in politics, but that is a lie, even his puppet Prime Ministers admit to consulting him. The people are sick of corrupt and greedy politicians.”
The Thai National Human Rights Commission has blamed both the current Thai government, run by Thaksin’s brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat, and police, for violence two weeks ago when 400 protesters were injured and two were killed, after police attacked with Chinese made tear gas bombs, which contained explosives and blew off limbs.
Shinawatra was found guilty of corruption by signing off on a deal which allowed his wife Pojoman, 51, to buy a massive city centre area of Bangkok from a government department at one third of its market price while her husband was Prime Minister.
Pojaman is currently appealing a three year jail sentence imposed in July for tax fraud involving the same 13 acre piece of land. But she and her husband fled Thailand to Britain, via the Beijing Olympics, after her last conviction.
Pojaman, born into one of Thailand’s richest Chinese Thai families, had bought a sixteen acre site of prime real estate in Ratchadphisek in the centre of Bangkok from a government financial department.
Today’s result was not unexpected even by Thaksin himself who said: “I had long anticipated that it would turn out this way”.
In the earlier case in his judgment the principal judge was quoted as saying that the defendants had ‘lied, cheated, and conspired to evade taxes, which is regarded as a serious crime.”
The last Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who admitted in his campaign that he was Thaksin’s nominee, was forced to resign his Premiership when it clashed with a politically oriented cookery show he hosted on television.
The current Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law has been found guilty by the National Counter Corruption of dereliction of duty in a remarkably similar case in which he allowed subordinates in his department at the Justice Ministry to sell government land without taking the appropriate fee.
And to cap it all the office of the Attorney General’s Office last week petitioned the Constitutional Court to disband the ruling PPP government  and  two of its coalition partners  for electoral fraud.
So far the Thai Government of his brother-in-law Somchai has not even revoked Shinawatra’s diplomatic passport. 
In Britain Thaksin Shinawatra had been told he could not remain owner of Manchester City F.C. once he had a conviction, and last week  the passenger window of his Rolls Royce was reported to have been smashed.
On another occasion while dining at a Chinese restaurant in Notting Hill Gate other customers are reported to have banged their glasses on their tables in protest at his presence.
ends

 

 

Thai policeman who gunned down Canadians seized by DSI - CBC

Published
by
Andrew Drummond
on October 16, 2008
in General News
. 1 Comment

Link to CBC story

Link to Globe and Mail story

 

 

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok Criminal Court, October 15 2008

 

A Thai policeman accused of gunning down two Canadian backpacker s, killing one, was committed to prison in Bangkok today to face trial for the alleged murder.

Police Sergeant Uthai  Dechawiwat was taken to the Criminal Court in Bangkok and remanded in custody to Klong Prem Prison, Lard Yao, Bangkok, after being seized in north Thailand by officers of the Department of Special Investigation – Thailand’s FBI.

The prosecutor opposed bail for Sergeant Dechawiwat  who was taken from Mae Hong Son province, and brought 450 miles south to Bangkok overnight.

Wearing a yellow sweat shirt Dechawiwat was then led to cells below the court and remanded to prison.

The moves follow a campaign led by Ernest Del Pinto, the father of Leo Del Pinto, 24,  from  Calgary, who was fatally gunned down in the small tourist town of Pai in northern Thailand.  Also shot in he same incident was his companion Carly Reisig, 24, from  Chilliwack, British Columbia.

After the shootings Dechawiwat was not even suspended from duty, but instead transferred out of Pai to a neighbouring village.

The Sergeant claimed he was acting in self defence, that Carly Reisig and Leo Del Pinto had attacked him and his gun went off as he fell backwards to the ground.

The local police gathered statements from a number of local witnesses which supported their version of events. Only one bullet was fired which hit both victims, police claimed.

But Thailand’s National Commission on Human Rights decided to take up the case after two  young and independent Thai witnesses, who did not have to rely on local police for their livelihood, told a completely different version.

They said Thai pistol-whipped Ms. Reisig and shot her in the chest before turning his gun on Leo Del Pinto who had his hands in the air. He shot Del Pinto first in the abdomen and then in the head as he fell to the ground.

When Thailand’s top forensic scientist Dr. Porn hip Rojanansun was called in she confirmed that the evidence did not fit the police story.  There were three bullets, one of which hit Ms. Reisig.

Del Pinto, she said, was shot in the head from above.

Thai Human Rights Commissioner Surasee Kosolnavin said today: “We are aware of the concerns of the family and Canadian government and wish to see this trial conducted fairly.

“To do so we have had to protect witnesses and we now have two more witness against the policeman whose identity we have to keep a secret until they give evidence.

“They are under witness protection.

“It was decided to take the case out of the local province and bring it to Bangkok along with the Police Sergeant.  I have reported a senior policeman to the National Counter Corruption Commission for attempted intimidation.

“This case is now fully in the hands of the Public Prosecutor and the D.S.I.”

Leo Del Pinto’s father Ernie Del Pinto said from Calgary: “This is very good news. I feel happier the case is being held in Bangkok. Of course its not before time. I have had sleepless nights knowng this man has been allowed to go free and has been spotted several times by tourists in local bars.

“I will only get any real sense of closure when the case closes with thr right result.”

Thaksin Shinawatra’s brother-in-law voted in as PM candidate- The Times 15-08-08

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Link to Times story

Link to Australian story

Andrew Drummond in Bangkok

 
Thailand’s government party the People’s Power Party (PPP) today nominated a brother-in-law of exiled Premier Thaksin Shinawatra as the country’s Prime Minister, a move which could send the country spiralling into further chaos.

The PPP’s choice of Somchai Wongsawat is certain to antagonise the protesters who have occupied Government House for three weeks, accusing the government of being a puppet of the ousted premier.

Mr Somchai has been acting prime minister since last week, when Premier Samak Sundaravej was forced to step down by the Constitution Court, for breaking parliamentary rules by hosting a cookery programme on commercial television while P.M.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose protests have disrupted travel across the country, describing Mr Somchai, a former Minister of Education, as “Thaksin Number Three” vowed to continue in its bid to unseat the PPP.

Sathien Viriyapanpongsa, co-ordinator for the protesters in the People’s Alliance for Democracy said: “In 2006, we fought only to free the country from the grip of Thaksin [Shinawatra] without laying out long-term measures. Eventually, we got Thaksin episode 2 in the form of a proxy government led by Samak Sundaravej.

“Now we are being presented with Thaskin Episode 3. Our protests will continue. We cannot stop now. We can win.”

“We all know who Somchai is. Samak was just a nominee but Somchai is the real actor linked to Thaksin’s family,” PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk told reporters. “We will not give him the benefit of the doubt or give him a honeymoon period.”

Mr Somchai’s ties to Mr Thaksin - his wife is Mr Thaksin’s younger sister - led to frequent cries of nepotism during his time as the top civil servant at the Justice Ministry. He denies the accusation, noting he got the job before Mr Thaksin came to power.

Somsak Kosaisook had already publicly stated that none of the PPP cabinet would be suitable as a Prime Minister.

The Thai Army is closely monitoring the situation and the end of the State of Emergency which was declared yesterday – even though the government are now planning to meet, not in government house, but at Bangkok’s old international airport at Don Muang.

But senior generals have repeatedly been quoted as saying they would not initiate a military coup.

Mr Samak had hoped to be voted back to power but last week Parliament could not find a quorum to vote him back in.

Mr Somchai is a barrister by profession and a former Chief Justice of Phang-Nga province in South Thailand. He also served in the Ministries of Labour and Justice.

The other possible contenders, Finance Minister Somporn Amornvivat and PPP Secretary Genereal Surapong Suebwonglee were also staunch allies of Mr Thaksin, who fled to London with his wife Pojaman, while on corruption charges. But they were not related to him by blood.

MR Somchai still has to be confirmed by Parliamentary vote on Wednesday, and with a large faction of the PPP now split, his appointment is by no means a forgone conclusion.

 

 

 

Thailand in political deadlock over new Prime Minister - The Times 12 08 08

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Andrew Drummond in Bangkok
 
Thailand was in a political deadlock today after the country’s parliament could not find a quorum to vote in a new Prime Minister.

Deposed Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who was forced to resign for breaking conflict of interest laws by going on a television show called Cooking and Grumbling, had hoped coalition government members, who have a massive parliamentary majority, would vote him back into power.

But most of the MPs boycotted the session, in what was seen as a time-buying move, while several different parties were in negotiation over the country’s leadership. The vote has now been delayed until next Wednesday.

Meanwhile thousands of supporters of Mr Sundaravej have arrived in Bangkok from the provinces, and exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is reported to have conveyed by phone his choice as new Prime Minister of Thailand.
 
The ‘Democracy against Dictatorship’ supporters have been bussed into the capital to counter demonstrations by the People’s Alliance for Democracy supporters who have taken over Government House, and last week paralysed airports in the country’s tourist hotspots.

PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang cancelled a planned protest by Young PAD, saying: “We do not want violence”.

The political turmoil has caused international tourist arrivals in Bangkok to drop by 70 per cent according to Charoen Wang-ananont, President of the Thai Tourist Services Association.

Holiday bookings to Thailand were being cancelled “right across the board” from Asia to Europe and already hotel occupancy was down 40 per cent for the time of the year, he said, calling for the state of emergency to be lifted.

Some 800,000 Britons travel to Thailand each year.

 

Thai ‘State of Emergency’ lull as government waits budget day- Daily Mail Sept 3 08

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State of Emergency Bangkok - lull as government hangs on for budget day

Daily Mail Edit
From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok  September  2

4pm BST

Thousands  of tourists , hundreds of them British, continued their slow evacuation from the Thai capital Bangkok tonight as a ‘State of Emergency’ declared by the government provided a lull in violence.
The  state enterprise unions, who have joined the anti-government protest, allowed flights to continue uninterrupted from Bangkok and the country’s southern resorts of Phuket and Krabi while the stand-off in the city becomes more tense.
And the Thai Airways Union said they wished to help tourists to leave the country unaffected.
Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy, numbering an estimated 70,000 in Bangkok, who want Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his Cabinet to step down immediately, were expected to be joined by thousands from the provinces.
The PAD has held Government House for a week, temporarily closed down the tourist airports, and shut down the country’s rail network, claiming that they believe Samak and his People’s Power Party Cabinet, were enriching themselves at the country’s expense – a charge they had previously laid against former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
That spells further trouble tomorrow (Wed) a crucial one in the besieged government’s calendar.
It’s Budget Day. 
The main agenda of the Parliament is how the PPP wth its majority is going to allocate government funds and the Prime Minister has refused to postpone the event.
Today, not only did the demonstrators asked him to resign, but the Election Commission which investigated how the PPP got into power also said Samak and his party should step down, because its members had concurred that the PPP were guilty of buying votes when elected.
But that has to be decided by the Constitution Court.
Samak’s resignation was also called for by Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Eton and Oxford educated leader of the Democratic Party, who said he was deeply suspicious that yesterday morning’s violence in which one person was killed and forty more injured was orchestrated…
Abhisit was careful not to directly point a particular person or party but said he was convinced the ‘violence was manipulated by important and influential figures.”
Co-incidentally amongst those treated for injuries in the violent eruption outside Government House was a government MP.
Udon Thani  MP Surathin Phimarnmekhin,  was treated at Bangkok’s Hua Chiew hospital with two stitches for the head injury he suffered during the clash between the pro and anti-government protesters.

But his secretary, Thirapol Suriyo,  insisted,  apparently with a deadpan expression , that Thirapol was not leading pro-government people into the clash.  He was ‘holding surgery for his constituents’ who had come to Bangkok.
Thailand’s Outlook Television Channel, strongly critical of the government, also broadcast footage of two former M.P.s from Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai Party at this mornings demo.

PAD supporters insist that their opponents,  from the from a group calling themselves the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship,  have been bussed in from the provinces and paid just under £10 a day to counter-demonstrate on behalf of the government and Thaksin Shinawatra.

So far tonight there remains a state of impass. The Army has been called upon to enforce the terms of the ‘State of Emergency’ but as it was the army who ousted Thaksin Shinawatra in a military coup just how far they will go remains to be seen.
So far they have refused to move the protesters, among which of course, are more than a few army wives.
Meanwhile workers in all the state unions, which cover mainly utilities and transportation, have come out in sympathy with the protesters.
They plan to use the national grid to black out and deprive water from the homes of politicians and police leaders responsible for police violence, they claim was used at an attack on the protesters at Government House.
The leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, is led by a man called Shinawatra Pabunchart who said:  “More of our supporters are coming. We will take back government house.”
Meanwhile a Thai style ‘State of Emergency’ continued to operate.  And that means that it was business as usual in the bars and clubs of Bangkok and the rule banning more than five people gathering was as usual ignored.
The Foreign Office updated its travel advisory to say major demonstrations were continuing in Bangkok but merely advised British tourists to be cautious in those areas.

 

Story One

5 am:BST

State of Emergency -  Graft authority says Thai government bribed for votes

From Andrew Drummond,
Bangkok September 2
An uneasy truce hung over Bangkok today after State of Emergency was declared at the end of a night of violence in the Thai capital.
Children were sent scurrying home from schools, workers went on strike, tourists, thousands of them British, struggled to get out of the country, and anti-government protesters dug themselves deeper into Government House.
Clashes began around 1.30 am and went on until 5am after hundreds of supporters of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra made their first attack on protesters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy.
One person was killed some 40 taken to local hospitals. There were reports of gunshot wounds.
Then in a bombshell early today Thailand’s Election Commission which has been investigating how Samak Sundaravej came to power made the announcement that this years elections were rigged and the P.M. and his whole party should step down.
The Election Commission is taking Samak’s People’s Power Party to the Constitution Court claiming the party’s deputy leader bought votes.
Now the city is bracing itself for another night of violence. But from which direction they are not sure.
Crucial to any forthcoming battles is what role the Thai Army and Police will play now that a State of Emergency has been declared by Samak Sundaravej.
PAD supporters have been protesting for over a week demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej , elected as the nominee of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former PM who was indicted for corruption and is now in exile in Britain, and selling off his shares in Manchester City F.C.
They claim that Samak, and his cohorts, will enrich themselves and bleed the country in the process. They want an end to western style democracy, because, they say, politicians are able to buy themselves into power.
They have successfully shut down most of the country’s railway system and for two days airports at the tourist hot spots of Phuket, and Krabi, in south Thailand.
Meanwhile police failed to get the protesters out of their occupation of Government House and the Army declined to intervene.
In the last few days Thailand’s police chief has been replaced and so has the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
The Army is expected to be called upon to enforce the terms of the ‘State of Emergency’ but as it was the army who ousted Thaksin Shinawatra in a military coup just how far they will go remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, after this morning’s violence, workers in all the state unions, which cover mainly utilities and transportation, came out on strike in sympathy with the protesters one day early.
They plan to use the national grid to black out and deprive water from the homes of politicians and police leaders responsible for police violence, they claim was used at an attack on the protesters at Government House.
Last night’s violence was prompted after supporters of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, a pro-Samak, pro-Thaksin group, led by a man called Shinawatra Pabunchart moved on protesters at Government House.
He said today: “More of our supporters are coming. We will take back government house.”
Just how orchestrated it was still remains unclear. But Democrats say Premier Samak predicted the violence two days ago and it gave the Prime Minister an excuse to bring in the army.
Meanwhile thousands of British tourists are still struggling to get home from holiday destinations in the south.  The Thai Airways Union which is coming out in sympathy however said they would do their best to help foreigners caught up in the troubles.
The People’s Alliance for Democracy remains defiant, one of its leaders Chamlong Srimuang said: “We are staying until Samak and his party goes. There are not enough jails for us.”

Andrew Drummond the only reporter with Gary Glitter -Daily Mail August 21 08

Published
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on August 24, 2008
in The Times
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REJECTED BY VIETNAM, THAILAND, HONG KONG, NOW POP PERVERT GLITTER AGREES TO RETURN TO BRITAIN

By Andrew Drummond and Sam Greenhill

 

Paedophile Gary Glitter has agreed to fly back to Britain after two days in international limbo as he was refused entry to Hong Kong and Thailand, according to Thai police.

Officers said the disgraced former pop star has finally agreed to board a flight back to London despite his attempts to avoid returning to his home country.

The paedophile and former pop star has agreed to return to Britain after being caught in a sting that resulted in him being served deportation papers in Hong Kong.

Thai police want him on the first available direct flight back to London. A space is being held for him on flight TG 901, which departs at 1.10am local time and lands at Heathrow Terminal 3 at 6am tomorrow.

Reluctant: Gary Glitter flying back to Thailand today. Police there say the convicted paedophile has now agreed to take a flight back to Britain

Reluctant: Gary Glitter flying back to Thailand today. Police there say the convicted paedophile has now agreed to take a flight back to Britain

The deal came after it emerged that Glitter had appealed to the Foreign Office to help him out of his travel deadlock.

But an airport source said he had fallen into a trap by boarding the plane to Hong Kong:

“Gary Glitter was allowed to fly to Hong Kong. It was a trap and he fell for it. He was given the deportation papers as soon as he touched down.

‘They can now legally make him get on that plane back to the UK, or put him in a detention centre.

‘Thai immigration police colluded with Hong Kong to make this happen as neither country wants him. Consular officials are speaking to him.”

A spokesman said: ‘It’s our understanding that he’s arrived in Bangkok. He will either try to go somewhere else or come back to the UK.’

Some 19 countries had refused the convicted paedophile entry and Thai officials had threatened to put him in a detention centre if he refused to leave for Britain.

The 64-year-old, travelling under his real name Paul Gadd, was said to be trying to book flights to Sri Lanka and Singapore this morning before accepting his fate.

With an estimated £5 million fortune, there were fears that he could bribe his way into a country and resume his pursuit of children.

The former singer appeared totally determined to avoid returning to the one country he will certainly be allowed into - Britain.

He was released from prison in Vietnam on Tuesday after serving a three-year jail term for abusing girls aged 11 and 12.

From there he was deported to Thailand, supposedly to board a flight from Bangkok back to Britain but on arrival, he refused to budge.

Last night it was suggested that an announcement by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on restricting travel by paedophiles was behind this decision.

glitter

The sleeping creep: Glitter snoozes on a Thai Ariways flight to Hong Kong yesterday

After a farcical 20-hour standoff with immigration officials, he eventually took a Thai Airlines flight to Hong Kong.

Glitter had rebuffed all attempts to coax him aboard two London flights from Bangkok, and the Thais had made it clear he was not welcome to stay in their country, declaring him a ‘threat to domestic morality’.

During the confrontation, he was overheard saying: ‘I’ve been in jail three years. Now I want to do some shopping in Hong Kong.’

Once aboard Thai Airlines Flight TG602 to Hong Kong and settled into his business class seat, Glitter began issuing instructions to cabin staff, telling them: ‘I am quite famous and hard of hearing. Please can you arrange for an escort for me at the other end?’

He used an on-board phone to call a friend in Hong Kong, asking him to book accommodation in Wanchai - the city’s lively night club area. ‘Just leave any message with Thai airways ground staff. They will know how to contact me,’ he said.

The only reporter on the plane, Andrew Drummond, who was in the seat behind him, asked Glitter his plans and was told: ‘I am travelling to Hong Kong for medical treatment.’

gary

Stop right there: Gary Glitter arrives at Hong Kong airport where he is greeted by immigration officials

Drummond said: ‘On landing, Glitter left the plane after being met by Cathay Pacific staff and an immigration official.

‘He smiled as he was fast-tracked through the Diplomats and Airline Staff immigration point, but once out of sight the smile must have been wiped off his face.’

At least 19 countries have said they will refuse him entry.

Meanwhile, the Home Office denied reports it had blundered by issuing him a new passport last year, allowing him to roam the world.

A spokesman insisted his passport - number 761028553 - was in fact issued in 2002, four years before he was jailed in Vietnam.

The spokesman said: ‘There was no blunder. We do not enforce the return of sex offenders, and he was entitled to a passport.’

While Glitter, 64, was doing his utmost to avoid the UK, Home Secretary Miss Smith seemed determined to bring him home and keep him here.

She was accused at Westminster of trying to manage the news by waiting for a ‘celebrity pervert’ to promote her tough measures to curtail paedophiles’ rights to travel.

In fact, there were suspicions Miss Smith had actually triggered the Glitter farce by panicking him into refusing to board the flight to Britain.

 

Glitter

Please let me in: Glitter tries to persuade Chinese officials to let him into Hong Kong

While at Bangkok, he watched the BBC which was broadcasting that paedophiles would never be allowed to travel again.

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve, said: ‘Government policy timetable should not be dictated by the movements of a serial sex offender with a media profile.

‘This would be the crudest form of news management in an extremely sensitive area.’ 

jacqui smith

Embarrassment: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

Miss Smith admitted that she had found it ‘ embarrassing’ that Glitter had not come home but said: ‘No paedophile is a celebrity, every paedophile needs to be controlled.’

The former star, who in his 1970s heyday sold 18million records and has a personal fortune of £5million, told reporters he was planning to write a book to ‘prove’ his innocence.

He said: ‘I should never have been in there. I was set up”.

Pictures Andrew Chant

Link to Daily Mail

Glitter skips his flight home - The Independent Aug 20 08

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Glitter skips his flight home after jail release

Link to Independent story

By Mark Hughes and Andrew Drummond at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok
Wednesday, 20 August 2008

The convicted paedophile Gary Glitter made a hysterical but successful break for freedom last night as he was being deported from Vietnam to Britain after serving nearly three years in prison for child sex offences.

The former rock star, 64, managed to avoid boarding a flight to London during a stopover in Thailand after a series of confrontations involving British embassy officials, police and Thai immigration officers. He told them he was scared of the press, particularly the television crews expected to meet him in London.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, collapsed in a bedroom at the Louis Tavern – within the territorial no-man’s land of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport – and complained of heart problems, demanding to be taken to hospital. In the early hours of the morning Bangkok time, he was attended by a doctor on call at the airport, paying for his treatment in cash. Meetings were being held in the early hours involving Thai officials, British officials and child protection agencies to discuss his future.

The Government chose today – the day of Glitter’s expected arrival – to announce that it is increasing to five years the amount of time paedophiles can be banned from travelling abroad, among other measures to clamp down on sex tourism. The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said of Glitter: “We need to control him and he will be, once he returns to this country. It certainly would be my view that with the sort of record that he’s got, he shouldn’t be travelling anywhere in the world.”

Glitter’s attempt to do just that began 12 hours after he was released from Thu Duc prison, 100 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, where he served his sentence for abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam. He was taken under police escort and accompanied by an official from the British consulate in Ho Ch Minh City to the airport, with his lawyer insisting he was returning to Britain.

He signed autographs for fellow passengers on the Thai Airways flight to Bangkok, but tried to avoid conversation. One passenger said: “He seemed fairly relaxed but tried to keep himself to himself. Some passengers started hassling him and asking questions, but he got moved away from them all.”

On arrival at Bangkok, it was clear that going to London was the last thing on Glitter’s mind. He was met at the aircraft by Thai immigration police and taken immediately to a VIP room.

Sudarat Sereewat, the secretary of Thailand’s Fight Against Child Exploitation group, said: “At first he asked to be allowed to enter to Thailand but he was refused. He said he had not committed any offence here but he was told he was not wanted.”

Unable to enter Thailand, Glitter then demanded to fly on to Singapore. Mr Sereewat added: “This situation is still far from clear. He has been told that he will be arrested if he attempts to enter Thailand.”

 

Gary Glitter tricked onto flight - The Times August 21 08

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From Times Online August 21, 2008

Gary Glitter tricked on to flight back home

Andrew Drummond in Bangkok

The disgraced glam-rocker Gary Glitter has finally agreed to return home to Britain after falling for a trick by Thai police, with a little help from their colleagues in Hong Kong.

The 64-year-old convicted paedophile sat alone tonight on a bench seat in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, cordoned off from the press in a transit area and waiting to be deported for the third time in three days.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was thrown out of Vietnam on Tuesday after serving two years and three months for abusing two girls aged 10 and 11.

But his arrival in Bangkok from Ho Chi Minh City left Thai Immigration Police in a quandary.
 
They did not know the strong feelings his name conjured in Britain and, although they had been tipped off about his arrival, nobody had given them any official documents which they could use to further his deportation to London.

Officers knew he had been convicted in Vietnam, but the government there did not give Thai Airways any deportation documents – even though it insisted that Glitter travel coach class. He got himself upgraded as soon as he entered the plane and arrived in Bangkok as a person with status.

“I am a free man. I have served my time,” Glitter insisted, producing a document from his Vietnamese lawyer stating that he was a full member of society, purged of any crimes and free to travel where he wished.

He then demanded to change his London ticket for a ticket to Singapore. When he was told there were no flights at that time of night, he demanded overnight accommodation and installed himself in a transit area at the airport where weary passengers can book rooms by the hour.

As the minutes ticked away for TG901, his connecting flight to London, in stepped an officer of CEOP – Scotland Yard’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit – who said that Glitter should be returned to London forthwith. He then withdrew and booked him a room nearby, admitting that he was “out of his jurisdiction”. He had no papers to present which could validate a deportation.

Thai police duly turned up shortly after midnight to take him to the plane, but Glitter would not budge. He demanded attention from the British Embassy duty officer, who duly arrived in the form of Stephen Buckley, a member of the commercial section whose duty that night was to out-of-hour calls from Britons in life-or-death situations.

Glitter ranted about his rights. “I will need to call the Ambassador,” Mr Buckley said diplomatically.

The following morning, with the plane already gone, the British Embassy told Thai officials that they did not want to get involved, which left the Thais back at square one. Glitter slept through as the morning flights left to Hong Kong and Singapore, his destinations of choice. He did not surface until 11am and refused to leave his room until he was brought a ticket.

The Thai Airways midday flight left for London without him on board. Thai Immigration told Thai Airways to solve the problem because they had brought in a deported person without the right documentation.

Glitter was eventually invited to a 3pm meeting in the office of the head of the airport police. A solution could be reached, he was told, that could be agreed by all parties.

Singapore was ruled out, said police, “because they won’t even let you in there”.
 
When Glitter suggested Hong Kong there were quizzical looks and an officer was sent out to enquire.

“I’ve been in jail for nine years. Why can’t I go and do some shopping in Hong Kong,” said Glitter smiling. Everybody smiled back. Some laughed.

Within the hour Glitter was promised a ‘Press Free’ permit to Hong Kong, although he was advised to buy a return ticket anyway.

By 7pm Glitter was in seat 11B, a glass of champagne beside him and happily unaware that he had fallen into a trap. He planned to stay in a luxury hotel in Wanchai and used the phone on his arm rest to summon a friend to collect him at the airport.

But Thai Police informed Hong Kong Immigration that he was coming and they agreed on a plan. He was arrested on arrival.

By 1pm today Gary Glitter was back in Bangkok and, this time, Thai Airways brought the deportation papers they needed - issued by the Hong Kong police.

His fate was sealed and his farcical Asian odyssey had come to an end.

Tonight, Major General Phongdej Chaiprawat, of the Thai police, confirmed that Glitter had agreed to return home. Honouring his part of the deal, however, he refused to tell the press which flight the star would be on.

 Link to Times story

Pictures: Top: Glitter, aka, Paul Gadd tries to negotiate himself out of Hong Kong

Centre: Reading on the aircraft

Bottom: Cheerfully arriving in Hong Kong

All pictures by Andrew Chant

 

British jailed for adultery to fly home - Mail on Sunday Aug 17 08

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Link to Mail on Sunday article

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok 
16th August 2008

Pictures by Andrew Chant

A British man who faced a seven-year prison sentence in the Philippines for adultery is being allowed to return to the UK with his girlfriend and baby this week.

David Scott, 37, has had his application for partner Cynthia Delfino to accompany him granted by the Home Office on humanitarian grounds.


The couple’s daughter Janina has been given British citizenship following her parents’ ordeal, which began when they were arrested and flung into a squalid cell in Manila when Cynthia was eight months pregnant.

They were charged with adultery, which is illegal in the strictly Catholic Philippines, despite Cynthia having separated from her husband.

After four days the couple were bailed and they fled to live in a jungle and derelict houses before Janina, now seven months old, was born in a tiny clinic.

David, from Swindon, Wiltshire - who met Cynthia on the internet in 2006 - paid £12,000 in legal fees and bribes to get them to Thailand.

After the long and emotional journey, they picked up Cynthia’s visa from the British embassy in Bangkok last week.

David said: ‘It’s been a long fight having to pay bribes everywhere I go. But every time I look at my daughter I just know it was worth everything.’

Cynthia said: ‘I am so relieved. I am a little scared about going to Britain, but everybody is so kind.’

 

Coming home at lastFrom Andrew Drummond,
Koh Samet, Thailand
Saturday August 16 08
In the sea  off the Thai island of Koh Samet David Scott takes his first ever dip with is new born baby and Filipina wife.
He has been in the tropics for nine months but has not even seen so much as a swimming pool in an ordeal which began with his arrest and jailing in the Philippines for adultery and a threatened  sentence of seven years.
But yesterday David Scott, 37, his girlfriend Cynthia, 28, and baby Janina, seven months finally found time to celebrate after learning that the Home Office had granted them permission on humanitarian grounds for the whole family to return to Britain.
David and Cynthia are on the run after escaping from Philippines Police. A court official in Coolocan, Manila, confirmed last week that a warrant had been issued for their arrest or adultery.
 This week they will be flying back to Swindon, Wilts, where Scott will introduce his new born baby to his grandmother.
Said David: “If it had not been for you guys (the Mail on Sunday) and my local M.P. Anne Snelgrove, I have no idea where I would be now, but probably in jail or worse. I cannot thank you enough.”
David Scott, 37, from Swindon, Wilts., spent last New Year in jail in Manila, after he was arrested with 8 month pregnant Cynthia Delfino,  during a night-time swoop by Philippines police and officers of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Accompanying the police was Cynthia’s Filipino husband Noriel Delfino, who was demanding the couple be jailed for the maximum seven years in the Philippines for adultery unless they paid him the equivalent of £7,000.
There is no divorce in the Philippines, a strictly Catholic country, but rich families can seek costly annulments on the grounds of the mental incapacity of one of the partners.
The couple  were thrown into a  police cell and that’s when how they spent last New Year. They even had to bribe police to be allowed to share a cell.
The couple fled while on bail and were forced to live in the jungle, derelict houses, and finally a room provided by friends, before their baby girl Janina was born in secret in a tiny clinic south of Manila.
All in all David Scott had to legal fees and bribes over £12,000 using his savings and finally cash sent by his mum and friends in Britain, to pay for documentation for Janina and his wife and get smuggle them out of the country.
Although the warrant was out for their arrest, they were able to board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand.
“The Immigration policeman took  my last £25,” said David.
Back in Thailand journalists chipped in and provide food and accommodation for the family for four months while David attempted the hardest - part to get them all home to Britain.
With the help of local M.P. Anne Snelgrove, Mr. Scott was able to get British citizenship for baby Janina in Bangkok a month ago, and this week an official from the British Embassy in Bangkok  informed David the Cynthia’s application to travel with her baby to England was granted on humanitarian grounds.
On the holiday island of Koh Samet,  150 miles south east of Bangkok David Scott said:  “When I flew to the Philippines to visit Cynthia for the birth of our baby her husband had already agreed to go through an annulment.  But I walked into a trap.  It’s been a long fight having to pay bribes every where I go.  But every time I look at my daughter I just know it was worth everything.
“I have learned a lot from this trip. The biggest lesson of all is that one is not automatically going to get help or even just advice from a British Embassy if one gets into trouble. You are very much on your own.
“The first advice I got from an Embassy official in Manila was that legally Janina was not my baby and I should leave the country without her. 
(Technically as there is no divorce in the Philippines the government would recognise Janina as being the daughter of Noriel Delfino).
“That’s not the sort of advice one forgets.  Then when I got to Bangkok they would not even let me and Janina into the Embassy – until my M.P. called them – all because we had ticked the wrong box on a visa form.
(Cynthia has been given a visa even though technically she is still married to Noriel Delfino and has known David under the statutory two years. Thus they were not even allowed to join the visa queue).
Said Cynthia:  “I am so relieved. I am a little scared about going to Britain but  everybody has been so kind so far.”

 

 

 

Bar girl and the expat: a killing foretold - Observer 17 Aug 08

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Andrew Drummond
on August 17, 2008
in The Times
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Every year hundreds of Britons leave the UK to marry Thai brides. The perils of such liaisons were revealed last week when retired engineer Ian Beeston was murdered by his wife and her lover. Ian MacKinnon and Andrew Drummond in Suwannaphum investigate a ruthless marriage market in which money can buy beauty but not necessarily love.

 Ian MacKinnon and Andrew Drummond

The Observer, Sunday August 17 2008

Andrew Herrington, a retired Birmingham lorry driver who now lives in Thailand, lowered his voice and turned to his companions: ‘Well, you know, he married a bar girl. What did he expect?’

Sitting on the ground floor of his home - a two-storey house squatting in a rice paddy in Isan, north-east Thailand - Herrington, aged 51, was talking about his friend and neighbour, Ian Beeston, who was found murdered last weekend after predicting that his Thai wife would kill him.

Beeston, 69, a retired design engineer, had been beaten and stabbed in his house - police say he took seven hours to die. His wife, Wacheerawan, 42, and her Thai lover, Somchit Janong, 48, confessed and have been charged with murder. In bizarre and macabre fashion, Janong even re-enacted for police and photographers the manner in which he had clubbed Beeston to death.

This was no isolated romance that culminated in a tragedy. The British embassy in Bangkok processes the wedding documents of up to 70 couples each week. The requests are almost exclusively from older British men - among 860,000 UK tourists each year - hoping to marry younger Thai women. But for any British man hoping to follow in Beeston’s footsteps and build a new better life in Thailand, his death was a stark reminder of how badly things can go wrong.

Three of the group of worried farangs - the Thai term for foreigners - who had gathered in Isan, have invested a hefty chunk of their life’s savings building houses nearby on the fringes of Suwannaphum village, deep in Thailand’s poorest province, Roi Et. Beeston’s house, which swallowed up all of his £250,000 retirement nest egg, was described locally as ‘palatial’. Unsurprisingly, in the wake of the killing, a siege mentality has taken hold.

‘Wanna’ was indeed a bar girl, a prostitute. She met Beeston in a bar in Beach Road, Soi 2, in Pattaya, the garish beach resort in southern Thailand, when he was still coming to the country on holiday. The resort is notorious for go-go and hostess bars with a ’sin city’ reputation that surpasses that of Bangkok. Eventually, his marriage having fallen apart, Beeston took early retirement from his job at the Ford motor plant in Dagenham, Essex, and moved to Thailand. In 1999 he married Wanna and paid for her two grown-up children to be put through university.

The good life hit the buffers when he discovered Wanna had secretly sold his Suwannaphum property. As foreigners are barred from owning land in Thailand, he had put everything in her name. All his savings from working as a design engineer, first at Perkins and then at Ford, had gone. Worse, the new owners of his house were agitating to move in. Four months ago a furious Beeston banished Wanna to a corrugated shack in the back garden. Friends feared then that he had signed his own death warrant.

In a letter left with lawyers, Beeston predicted his own grisly fate. ‘It is just a matter of time now,’ he wrote. ‘I am in real fear for my own life.’

Beeston’s romance, like so many others involving Western men escaping loneliness at home, began with a stroll down one of the hundreds of neon-lit strips in Thailand’s tourist-friendly sex quarters. The ratio of male tourists to Thai women is almost two to one. Walk down Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy or Patpong any evening and it is easy to see how masculine fantasy can take flight. Ageing, unprepossessing foreign men are fawned over by lithe young Thai women wearing broad smiles and revealing clothes. The prospective clients are beckoned through curtained doorways to a dimly lit world where bar girls dance suggestively on a tiny stage and strip.

Others chat up the punters in rudimentary English. The price of all this attention is just the cost of a drink for the girl, perhaps a tip. The often unspoken element is that the girl will go back and spend the night at his hotel. Cash is rarely mentioned, and there is no unseemly haggling, but the going rate is little more than a ‘present’ of £20.

‘[The men] are often not the most handsome of all, they are usually in the latter years of their life, they are bald, unattractive and quite lonely in their own little society,’ writes Thai anthropologist Dr Yos Santasombat in Hello My Big Big Honey!, an anthology of love letters penned to Bangkok bar girls. ‘When they come to Patpong, they’re struck with girls who are all over them.’

The appeal of easy, cheap sex is evident the next morning. The same men hold hands with their bar girls skipping down the pavements of Bangkok’s tourist haunts. ‘Often they extend their relationship for a number of days or weeks or even years,’ writes Yos. ‘Sometimes the farang himself ends up spending the entire vacation with one girl and sometimes comes back. Sometimes she becomes his mistress or even a wife.’

Romance with a Westerner in such circumstances can come perilously close to a game of mutual exploitation. Nearly all of the girls have flocked to the cities and resorts to escape their own prison: an impoverished existence in Thailand’s rural expanses, whereas a night’s takings from the city bar could sustain a family for a month. From Isan’s desperately poor, rice farming villages, where hunger is the norm, the bars of Bangkok or Pattaya are a welcome escape. For girls with little education they provide an opportunity to shine and have the honour of providing for their families by sending new-found riches back home.

‘They do it because it’s an easy life,’ said John Burdett, a British lawyer-turned-novelist who has interviewed hundreds of bar girls for books such as Bangkok Haunts. ‘You don’t want to be a subsistence rice farmer. It’s very, very hard. Village life’s claustrophobic. Bar girl work isn’t dirty. It’s not strenuous. They don’t have dozens of partners; maybe one or two a week. The rest of the time they’re getting men to buy drinks and existing on tips. In the village there’s a kind of omertà, where no one talks about it. But they send money home to care for people, so they’ve big status.

‘A bar girl in her early or mid-twenties has a 10-year window of opportunity to get out of poverty,’ said Burdett. ‘So if she spends time with a guy she is using up her chances. She sees that as an investment and she’s entitled to something in return. The car and the house may be in her name. In the West we’ve lost our intuitive understanding of how poverty shapes thinking. So, if after 10 years together the foreigner decides to move out, leaving her with little to show for it, that’s a problem. She’s lost face and that’s terribly important. Her image has been damaged and it might even lead people to kill.’

Stephen Treharne Jones, 63, (left) was a former neighbour of Beeston. Jones met Lamyai, then 32, in a Pattaya bar and sought to ‘rescue’ her and send her home to Isan. ‘When I met my wife, Lamyai , she had nothing,’ said Jones. ‘I paid her out of a sex bar in Pattaya and told her to go home. When I visited her home she was living in a room with her two children. There was no bathroom or toilet facilities, no doors, no tiles, no electricity, just a mattress and blankets on the floor. So I bought a big home for both of us and bought the land off her relatives.’

Jones’s world collapsed when he asked his wife to sell a piece of land he had bought. Lamyai refused, saying it was impossible. Only when he went with a lawyer to the land registry did he discover he never owned it. He bought it from Lamyai’s family, but allowed them to keep it in their names because of foreign ownership prohibitions. When challenged, Lamyai threw him out of their luxury villa in Kalasin, an hour from Suwannaphum. Penniless, he scuttled back to King’s Lynn, Norfolk, two months ago. He now lives there in sheltered accommodation.

‘Looking back now, I know my Thai wife had set me up from day one,’ said Jones last week. ‘In Kalasin I know of three other foreigners who were kicked out by their wives after they completed property purchases. They say there’s no fool like an old fool. But I did genuinely love Lamyai. I was sold a dream, I guess. A quiet life in the country where food and drink was cheap, the women attentive and the weather warm. But that’s not the reality. The reality is that one becomes a captive.’

Lamyai (right) has a very different account of the breakdown in relations. ‘If Stephen had been a good husband I would not have asked him to leave,’ she said. ‘But when he argued he called me a thief and a prostitute. We were quite happy for four years, even though he spent a lot of time going out drinking with his farang friends in the area. Stephen had a house he could have lived in all his life if he respected me as his wife, but at the end I was just his servant.’

As his own marriage became a bitter property dispute, Beeston saw trouble coming. Exiled to the garden shed, his wife had installed her lover, Janong, and they kept Beeston a virtual prisoner in his own home with taunts and attacks.

In a letter to his lawyers, Beeston told how his wife had started a money lending business - lending his money - and had paid off local police so she could run an illegal lottery. ‘My wife threatened me with a gun,’ he said in the letter, detailing a series of attacks on his house involving ’stones, lumps of wood, fireworks and even a tin of paint’. The house was also frequently burgled, he said.

Like so many Britons and other expatriates living in rural Thailand who are unable to converse in Thai, it appears Beeston may have been the unwitting victim of a sting his wife had been waiting for years to bring off. According to his friends, the whole town, even the police chief, knew but nobody said anything. ‘I thought she loved me, but she only wanted my money after all,’ Beeston had told his Australian neighbour, Bill Lamb.

‘He told me he thought his wife was about to kill him,’ said Lamb. ‘My feeling is that Ian had been paying for Wanna’s daughters from a previous marriage to go to university. This year they both graduated. I just don’t think he was needed any more. She had it all. To be honest - the life of a foreigner isn’t worth much around here.’

Back in Herrington’s Suwannaphum house, fists were clenched as the group discussed a fitting revenge for the perpetrators of the callous act. The palpable sentiment was: ‘It’s them or us.’ But the bitter consensus was also that after all the publicity had died down Beeston’s wife would be granted bail and freed. ‘She’s got the money, and with money cases just get dropped,’ said Herrington.

Then the conversation turned to the future and who was ‘next for the bullet’. They agree they know the identity of the marked man. He lives about 20 miles away and is having some major problems with his Thai wife. ‘Yep,’ they chorus, ‘for sure.’

About this articleClose Bar girl and the expat: a Thailand killing foretold
This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday August 17 2008 on p8 of the News section. It was last updated at 00:02 on August 17 2008.

Police to meet Gary Glitter in London - The Times Aug 14 08

Published
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on August 14, 2008
in The Times
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Link to The Times story

Link to ‘Tracking Down Gary Glitter’

From  Andrew Drummond,

Bangkok

 

Gary Glitter, the former rock star who was jailed for three years for abusing children in Vietnam would be deported back to Britain next, his lawyer said yesterday.

The statement appeared to contradict an earlier statement by lawyer Le Than Kinh that Glitter would be unaccompanied and free to go anywhere after leaving Vietnam.

But it is understood Glitter, real name Paul Francis Gadd, has been only provided with a one way travel document back to Britain, since his passport expired a year ago.

On his return to Britain it is understood that Gadd will be put on the paedophile register before being allowed to travel abroad again. 

He has indicated in an interview with a Vietnamese journalist that he needed to seek medical and dental treatment in Britain as a matter of priority, although in that interview he said he would like to go to Singapore or Hong Kong where he had friends.

The Vietnamese Foreign Affairs department has politely declined work visas for foreign journalists intending to cover his release and asked that they respect Gadd’s wishes.

Le Than Kinh said last week that the fallen star, who had a cult following with songs such as ‘Leader of the Gang’ , would be escorted directly onto an aircraft by police and with a British official from the Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

He confirmed yesterday: “Police booked his ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to London and I have already paid for the ticket on his behalf.”

Glitter was arrested in the southern province of Baria-Vung Tau after journalists from a Sunday newspaper spotted and photographed him with young girls there.

A subsequent police investigation resulted in four charges of ‘lewdness with children’ aged 11 and 12, being brought against him.

An investigation into child rape was dropped after the parents of the two victims demanded US$10,000 and US$5,000 respectively.

Lawyer Le Than Kinh negotiated the compensation down to US$2000 each and the families then petitioned the People’s Court  to  stop the case in order  ‘to avoid further damage to the girls’ families’ honour and to the privacy of the victims.

Since the offences the girls have been returned to the care of their parents, and of two older girls  who procured the children for Gadd, one was now married and another has been sentenced and released from custody at  the Baria-Vung Tau Social Labour Centre, a rehabilitation unit.

When Gadd was sentenced to three years in prison the Chief Prosecutor of the People’s Procuracy of Baria-Vung Tau noted that in 1999 he had been ‘taken into police custody for two months by British police on a charge of storage of forbidden sexual photographs in a laptop’ and that in 2003 he was expelled by police from Cambodia.

After he was sentenced officers from Scotland Yard visited Paul Gadd in prison in Vietnam and examined the hard disk of his computer which contained images of children involved in sexual activity.  The case had not been proceeded with in Vietnam because Gadd claimed in his defence that  he had borrowed the computer from a friend and there was no evidence that he intended to ‘widely propagate’ the material.

It is understood there is no plan to prosecute him in Britain for these offences.

Pictures: Andrew Chant

 

 

 

 

Jungle Brit gets Home Office permission to bring family home -Aug 14 08

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on August 14, 2008
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Jungle Brit gets permission to fly home with Filipina and baby

From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, Wednesday August 14

Pictures: Andrew Chant

 

A Briton who fled to the jungle in the Philippines after being told he faced seven years in jail there for adultery has been given leave to return to England with his girlfriend and seven month old baby.


David Scott, 37, from Swindon, Wilts., spent last New Year in jail in Manila, after he was arrested with his 8 month pregnant Filipina girlfriend Cynthia Delfino, 28, during a night-time swoop by Philippines police and officers of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Accompanying the police was Cynthia’s Filipino husband Noriel Delfino, who said David, was demanding the couple be jailed for the maximum seven years in the Philippines for adultery unless they paid him the equivalent of £7,000.
There is no divorce in the Philippines, a strictly Catholic country, but rich families can seek costly annulments on the grounds of the mental incapacity of one of the partners.
The couple fled while on bail and were forced to live in the jungle, derelict houses, and finally a room provided by friends, before their baby girl Janina was born in a tiny clinic south of Manila.
A warrant was issued for their arrest but by paying bribes they were able to board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand.
With the help of local M.P. Anne Snelgrove, Mr. Scott was able to get British citizenship for baby Janina in Bangkok a month ago, and early today an official from the British Embassy in Bangkok  informed David the Cynthia’s application to travel with her baby to England was granted on humanitarian grounds.
In Bangkok David Scott said today: “Obviously we are both delighted.  It’s been a nine month ordeal. We would like to thank our M.P. and journalists and everybody who helped us fight to get our baby home to Britain.


“When I flew to the Philippines to visit Cynthia for the birth of our baby her husband had already agreed to go through an annulment.  But I walked into a trap.  It’s been a long fight having to pay bribes every where I go.  But every time I look at my daughter I just know it was worth everything.”
Said Cynthia:  “I am so relieved. When the Embassy called this morning I just knew it was going to be good news. I am a little scared about going to Britain but  everybody has been so kind so far.”

Footnote: The following email was sent later by David Scott

Andrew Drummond and Andrew Chant saved us when Embassy could not help

The Thaksin debate. Did he jump or was he pushed?

Published
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Andrew Drummond
on August 12, 2008
in The Times
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Was Thaksin Shinawatra deliberately allowed to leave?

From Andrew Drummond

Request: Times Sport.

Monday 11th August 2008

 

Thaksin Shinawatra’s decision to flee to Britain was not only predicted but almost invited and today only his staunchest supporters seemed genuinely surprised in Thailand.

Two weeks ago on July 29th both he and his wife Pojaman had applied to the courts to travel not only to Beijing for the Olympics but also to Britain for the start of the football season.

They had been granted permission only to travel to Beijing after which the courts would consider their British trip.

No sooner had they left than the Bangkok press predicted that they would not return.  This was immediately vehemently denied at the weekend by people representing Thaksin saying not only would Thaksin and his wife return to Thailand but also giving the flight number and arrival time from Beijing.

A crowd of cheery supporters waited in vain at the airport.

Pojaman had already been convicted of a massive tax fraud and although she had been granted bail and could delay any imposition of sentence for years while on appeal, there was no appeal for the cases the couple were about to face.

Thaksin and his wife were due today to return to the Supreme Court in Bangkok in Bangkok to face the first in a series of other corruption charges.  They were accused of corruptly buying government land at a knock down price in the centre of Bangkok,  while Thaksin was in power, something akin to Gordon Brown ordering the acquisition of 16 acres of Whitehall for personal development.

And in this case three of their lawyers have already been jailed for trying to bribe a judge.

Thaksin is also due to face other corruption charges.  One is that he brokered a deal with the Burmese military junta enabling them to get very cheap credit from the Thai government Export Import Bank – provided they invested  in business with his Shin Communications corporation.

He is also accused of improperly running a government lottery.

“He was given the chance to leave. His permanent departure would bring an end to a lot of trouble in Thailand. He has massive support but also a section of the population is very angry at what he has done.  They even suspect than on his recent trip he smuggled more money out,”  a former Thai diplomatic official  told me yesterday, before rushing off to join an anti-Thaksin demo.

“This is a Thai solution.  But it’s not a good one.“

Last weekend it was reported that Pojaman boarded a flight to Beijing with nine cases, if so its of course rather a lot for  such an Olympic opening ceremony, now matter how smart one wants to look.

In affect even though Thaksin has massive amounts of money frozen in Thailand nobody really knows his real wealth.  If there is one thing he is good at it is moving his assets in and out of countries and banks. He has been acquitted once of concealing his assets, which he claimed was a genuine mistake.  Another  such charge is in the pipeline.

At the moment he is playing the ‘democracy’ card and he is citing Britain and a wonderful example of such. 

Sweet talk?  Opponents say that particular card was only dealt him when he was ousted in a military coup in September 2006.

Previous to that he had publicly stated  that western styled democracy was not the answer for a country like Thailand and when he was criticised at in the United Nations over misleading the world when he claimed that Thailand did not have bird flu he famously retorted: “The United Nations is not my father.”

Opponents also claim that he was not so concerned about justice when hundreds of innocent people, if not the 2,500 quoted by Human Rights organisation, were injudicially killed in the ‘War against Drugs’ which he initiated in 2003.  Nobody went through the courts for those offences perhaps because its a racing certainty that the police were the major offenders.

At any rate Thaksin’s hasty, or long planned departure, believe what you will, was good for the Thai Stock market which rallied on hearing the news of his departure.

It may also put an end to daily demonstrations against him throughout Thailand by the other ’champions’ of democracy the ‘People’s Alliance for Democracy’

At the moment however Thaksin Shinawatra probably needs Manchester City as much as the club needs his money.  It is a major conduit of his cult of his personality to the rural people of Thailand, from where his major support comes.

And without the fame and exposure City gives him he could just fade into the background completely as just another oriental politician.  There are no shortage of politicians in Thailand in the past,  who have allegedly robbed the country and then had to spend a considerable time in exile – until they are forgiven, of their crimes forgotten.

Thaksin is not expected to return to Thailand in the near future.  As one of his biographers, British academic Chris Baker, noted in Bangkok. “ He has defamed the court. So he has gone for good.”

Judges here are not addressed as ‘My Lord’  but when lawyers address them they usually end the sentence with the equivalent of ‘I am merely dust under your feet’.

The fact is that the judiciary is much the same as when Thaksin was in power . And he made full use of the judiciary to suppress his enemies.  Although the investigations against him were done by committees set up by the military rulers who ousted  him it was the judges who accepted the cases against him as worthy for trial.  Hoisted by his own petard?  We’ll have to leave it to other refs.

But the British government is going  to be hard pressed to support him even though it disapproved of the coup. When Brits are in the mire in Thailand, often claiming they have been framed by Thai police, the standard operating proceduce from the British government is a rather muted: ‘We will not interfere in the judicial process of another country’.   Sauce for the goose?