Thaksin says case against him 'politically motivated'
Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thailand’s pursuit of him was politically motivated and insisted all his assets were acquired legally, a Swiss newspaper reported today.
“My money is clean,” Manchester City owner Thaksin, told central Switzerland’s Mittelland Zeitung.
The Thai government has frozen more than £1bn (€1.5bn) in assets controlled by Thaksin and his family since he was ousted in a coup d’etat a year ago.
While there is no indication he has money stored in Switzerland, Thaksin was asked what he thought about the Swiss banking system.
“The good old Swiss banking secrecy doesn’t exist anymore. Absolute discretion is a thing of the past,” he said.
Folco Galli, a spokesman for the Swiss federal prosecutor’s office, said Thailand had made no request of Swiss authorities to investigate or freeze assets Thaksin may have in the country.
