FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
Red shirts’ backers face probe
thailand from A1
solved confrontation is also a clash within Thailand’s elite. “This is an ideological conflict mixed up with a business conflict. Business competition has always been muddled with political com- petition. But this is much more vindictive,” said Chris Baker, a longtime resident of Thailand and co-author of a recent book about Thailand’s billionaire former prime minister, Thaksin Shina- watra. On Tuesday, Thailand issued an arrest warrant on terrorism charg- es against Thaksin, a U.S.-edu- cated former policeman who made a fortune off mobile tele- phones, TV, golf courses and other ventures. He won two elections, styled himself “CEO Prime Min- ister” and presided over a period of roaring economic growth — and also mass executions of al- leged criminals — while serving as leader from 2001 to 2006, when he was overthrown in a military coup. He’s now in self-imposed ex- ile abroad. “They are tightening the noose,”
said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Univer- sity. Arrests, censorship and the fi- nancial inquest have put Thailand on “a slippery slope,” he said, add- ing: “The creeping fear is that this could become a witch hunt. The question is: Who is next?” Noppadon Pattama, a former foreign minister whose bank ac- counts have been frozen, de- nounced the financial probe as “clearly politically motivated.” Like many on the financial black- list, Noppadon is close to Thaksin. The government denied engag- ing in a political vendetta. The money probe, said spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn, is “not a tool for political conflict” but a re- sponse to a security threat. “Peo- ple who have nothing to hide have nothing to worry about,” said Pan- itan, a political scientist who taught for a time at Johns Hop- kins University. Twenty companies, most of them owned by relatives or close associates of Thaksin, are also un- der investigation. Like individuals on the list, they are barred from making bank, stock, insurance or other transactions without gov- ernment permission. Authorities have made public no evidence of wrongdoing and have stumbled over details: One blacklisted com- pany closed years ago. Thailand’s business communi-
ty, like the rest of the country, is bitterly divided. When Bangkok lurched toward
anarchy last week, mostly pro- Thaksin red shirts turned with fu- ry on property owned by rich fam- ilies they viewed as hostile or luke- warm to their movement. Police
stood by as rioters torched branches of Bangkok Bank and the country’s biggest shopping mall, CentralWorld. The arson attacks mirrored, al- beit with far more violence, a cam- paign launched in early 2006 by opponents of Thaksin to boycott businesses close to the then prime minister. Six months later, the military removed Thaksin and set up a commission to investigate his business network. That investigation began a long
effort to choke off Thaksin’s mon- ey. It climaxed in February when Thailand’s Supreme Court con- fiscated $1.4 billion of frozen Thaksin assets. The court ruling allowed him to keep about $900 million. Soon after the court deci- sion, red shirts began mobilizing for an occupation of downtown Bangkok.
Sean Boonpracong, a former resident of Herndon, Va., who helped lead the red shirt invasion, said after release from military in- terrogation over the weekend that protesters got $130,000 a day — far less than official estimates — from “friends of Thaksin” for food, generator fuel and other supplies. He denied that any had been used to buy weapons, adding that red shirts discussed setting up an armed wing but rejected the idea. Some of those on the blacklist
sympathized with the red shirt cause, which boiled down to a de- mand that the government quit and call early elections that would possibly return Thaksin’s allies to power. A shopping center owned by one targeted businessman leased space to a host of now- defunct red shirt ventures, includ- ing an anti-government TV sta- tion, a journal called Red News, the Red Cafe and also the Red Shop, filled with Thaksin dolls, Thaksin T-shirts and books prais- ing Thaksin. Other tycoons suffered heavy losses from the turmoil they’re ac- cused of bankrolling. Particularly hard hit was Panlert Baiyoke, owner of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, an 88-story Bangkok landmark with 658 guest rooms. The hotel had just one guest last week. This week it had 20. Prayudh, the coffee maker and
chief executive of a steel venture called Thainox Stainless, declined to comment on allegations that he helped fund the protesters. The government has given no
evidence of misbehavior by Prayudh other than a long associa- tion with Thaksin. The corporate headquarters of Thainox displays a 2001 photo of Prayudh receiving a business award from Thaksin. Prayudh made his first big mon-
ey from a coffee joint venture set up in 1972 with the Swiss multina- tional Nestle. Nophadol Siwabur, director of corporate affairs for Nestle in Thailand, said the black- list “is essentially a private matter for Mr. Prayudh.” Nestle, he added, “keeps a strict neutrality in politi- cal matters.” This hasn’t helped Nestle es- cape the consequences of politics: Its Bangkok offices were in Cen- tralWorld, the shopping and office plaza torched by protesters.
higginsandrew@washpost.com
KLMNO
A dip in the temperature
S
The World A17
AHMAD MASOOD/REUTERS
A man jumps into a swimming pool in Kabul, Afghanistan, where the mercury rose to just under 90 degrees Thursday.
Letter at center of U.S.-Brazil dispute over Iran deal
Lula’s government says Obama note was used as guide in nuclear talks
by Glenn Kessler
Maybe there should have been
a follow-up note. On April 20, President Obama
⁄2
sent a 21 -page letter to Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Sil- va outlining a deal that the Unit- ed States had unsuccessfully pursued in October, one in which Iran would swap the bulk of its enriched uranium for fuel for a medical research reactor. At the time, Brazil and Turkey were contemplating mediation efforts with Iran. “For us, Iran’s agreement to
transfer 1,200 kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) out of the coun- try would build confidence and reduce regional tensions by sub- stantially reducing Iran’s LEU stockpile,” Obama wrote, accord- ing to a copy of the letter posted Thursday on the Web site Poli-
ticaExterna.com. Turkish President Recep Tayy- ip Erdogan received a similar let- ter. That letter has become a sort of talisman for Brazil, which says Lula and Erdogan used it as a guide when they negotiated a deal with Tehran on May 17. Bra- zilian officials are shocked that the United States is raising ob- jections to the agreement and its terms, including the fact that it did not end Iran’s recent deci- sion to begin enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent. Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso
Memorial Day
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Amorim, said that his govern- ment was encouraged “to imple- ment the proposals in October, without deviation, and we did.” As for the 20 percent enrich- ment, he said, “Nobody told us, ‘Hey, if you do not stop the en- richment to 20 percent, forget the deal.’ ” U.S. officials beg to differ. A senior U.S. official said the letter was designed to deal with a dis- crete problem. At the time, the Turks and Brazilians seemed in- clined to accept an Iranian pro- posal to ship the uranium out piecemeal, rather than in one batch. “It was a letter that was re- sponding to something they were doing, in which we were pointing out that what you are doing falls well short of what we are seeking before,” he said. Meanwhile, in the days lead-
ing up to the negotiations, the of- ficial said, there were “multiple conversations” between the Americans and their Turkish and Brazilian counterparts laying out what needed to happen, in- cluding an end to the 20 percent enrichment. “There was a con- stant drumbeat in the conversa- tions,” he said. But U.S. officials said there was no president-to-president letter laying out those broader concerns. So Lula and Erdogan went to Tehran with the earlier — and, in the White House’s view, out-of-date — missive. “They became riveted on the
TRR,” the official said, referring to the Tehran Research Reactor. “Lula wanted to go there. He wanted to play a certain kind of role. This was the most immedi- ate thing out there.”
kesslerg@washpost.com
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