PREAH VIHEAR CONTROVERSY

PREAH VIHEAR CONTROVERSY

Any Govt would have done it: Samak

Prime
Minister Samak Sundaravej said Sunday that any government would have
had done the same thing with what his administration has done in
endorsing Cambodia's registration of Preah Vihear a world heritage site.

He
said had the post-coup interim government remained in office, it would
have done the same thing with what his government had done regarding
the Preah Vihear listing.

Speaking during his live talk programme, Samak said had the Democrat won the election, it would have also done the same thing.

He
said Cambodia would seek to register Preah Vihear with our without Thai
endorsement and it could have caused more damages had the World
Heritage Committee approved the registration of the disputed
overlapping land as part of the world heritage site.

The
prime minster said his government endorsed the registration after
Cambodia agreed to register only the temple not the surrounding
landscape.

He said his government was not the one to
initiate the preparations for the endorsement of the joint communiqu้
of the two countries in support of the Preah Vihear listing.

He said the Foreign Ministry handled the issue with backing from the military and National Security Council.

Samak
said the Foreign Ministry's Treaties and Legal Affairs Department had
studied the issue and became certain that Thailand would not lose any
part of its territory because of the joint statement.

He
said the Supreme Command's Royal Thai Survey and the NSC also backed up
the opinion of the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department.

Samak
added his government was facing all the trouble regarding to the Preah
Vihear issue because of the Constitution which was written with a
motive get rid of politicians of the People Power Party's side.

During
his Talk Samak Style programme, Samak particularly cited Article 190's
section paragraph, which the government's opponents cited to seek a
Constitution Court's ruling against the Cabinet's resolution to endorse
Cambodia's registration of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site.

He said the second paragraph should not have been included.

The government's opponents later cited the court ruling to seek an impeachment against his Cabinet.

The
second paragraph of Article 190 says: "A treaty which provides for a
change in the Thai territories or extraterrotorial areas over which
Thailand has sovereign rights or has jurisdiction in accordance
therewith or in accordance with international law or requires the
enactment of an Act for the implementation thereof or has extensive
impacts on national economic or social security or generates material
commitments in trade, investment or budgets of the country, must be
approved by the National Assembly. For this purpose, the National
Assembly shall complete its consideration within sixty days as from the
receipt of such matter."

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/13/headlines/headlines_30077955.php

Samak denies irregularities in BMA flood-easing tunnel project

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej Sunday denied that there were
irregularities in a flood-easing tunnel project commenced when he was
governor of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

He
was reacting to reports that an executive of a Japanese construction
firm had admitted to Japanese prosecutor that he had paid a bribe to
Thai officials in return for favours connected to the tunnel project.

Samak
said he did not explain the issue during the week because he did not
trust the Thai media so he waited to give the explanation during his
live talk programme.

He said the project had been ruled by the
Administrative Court as being transparent after a Thai construction
firm sued the BMA and Japanese firm as violating the law against
collusion to win government's projects.

Samak said the BMA also managed to negotiate for reduction of the construction cost so there were no bribery in the project.

http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30077952

Vaccination casualty

A two-month-old girl has died after being vaccinated at a state clinic.

Sunisa Chamjaeng became ill last Thursday after being taken to the
Uttaradit clinic for polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis and
tetanus vaccinations.

Attachai
says his daughter and her mother attended the Ban Moh healthcare unit
and the child fell ill later at home with fever. She later fell into a
coma and stopped breathing.

The child was taken to nearby Pichai Hospital, but she died of pulmonary oedema before admission.

Attachai
says his daughter was healthy until visiting the clinic. "I don't want
to blame anybody. All I want is the truth about what happened to my
daughter."

Provincial public health chief Dr Aree Tanbanjong says vaccinations have been suspended pending a twoweek investigation.

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/13/national/national_30077967.php

Chaiya fined Bt25,000 for contempt of court

The Administrative Court found Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsup guilty of contempt of count and fined himi Bt25,000.

Chaiya
earlier criticised the court for issuing an injunction against Chaiya's
order to appoint a new board of directors for the Government
Pharmaceutical Organisation.

http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30077490

Japanese contractor allegedly bribes Thai officials

A former executive of Nishimatsu Construction Co. has told Japanese
prosecutors that the Japanese general contractor paid more than 400
million yen or Bt125 million in 2003 to Thai government officials.
Kyodo News Agency reported Monday.

The alleged bribes were in return for ''favors'' connected to the
award of a tunnel project of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in
2003.

Incumbent Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was Bangkok governor at that time.

The former executive of the major Japanese general contractor is
being probed by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office for
allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law for
importing in around 100 million yen from overseas without reporting it
to customs, the sources said.

In September 2003, a partnership Nishimatsu Construction and a
local general contractor was awarded a project ordered by the BMA to
build a tunnel to ease flooding.

The project was worth around 6 billion yen, according to the administration.

Local staff of Nishimatsu in Thailand allegedly prepared bribes
after consulting executives of Nishimatsu's Thai partner, the sources
said. The payments were apparently made to Thai government officials
and officials overseeing overseeing bids for the project just before
and after the project was awarded.

The Nishimatsu executive claims he was not directly involved in
bribing the officials but ''in return for favors to secure the tunnel
construction project, the company paid a total of more than 400 million
yen to Thai government officials,'' the sources said.

''Such operational funds were necessary in order to be awarded public works projects in Thailand,'' he was quoted as saying.

Kyodo news agency said the prosecutors searched Nishimatsu's
head office in Tokyo's Minato Ward in early June in connection with the
former executive's suspected violation of the foreign exchange law. The
prosecutors suspect that the 100 million yen he brought into Japan was
part of a slush fund.

The prosecutors are also conducting investigations into Pacific
Consultants International, a major Japanese construction consultancy,
in connection with a case of suspected bribery in Vietnam related to a
project funded by official development assistance from the Japanese
government.

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/07/national/national_30077492.php

WIMBLEDON, Packing a punch

WIMBLEDON

Packing a punch

Venus serves thunderbolts to end Tamarine's dream run in quarters

Defending champion Venus Williams moved a step closer to her fifth Wimbledon singles title yesterday, beating Tamarine Tanasugarn in straight sets to reach the semi-finals and close in on another potential championship match-up with sister Serena.

Williams downed the 31-year-old Tamarine 6-4 6-3 on Court 1 to extend her career record over the Thai player

to 7-0.

The seventh-seeded American, who has not dropped a set all tournament, was limping slightly at the end of the match with a hamstring problem.

Feeling a little pain

"It feels a little bit tight," she said. "I'll be fine. I'm a big girl. I can deal with it."

The Williams sisters are in opposite halves of the draw and could meet in Saturday's final. The two have been twice before in the Wimbledon final, with Serena winning both in 2003 and '04.

"That would be amazing if we both were in the final," Venus said. "I have to take it one more step and keep playing power tennis."

The 60th-ranked Tamarine, playing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final, pushed Williams as hard as she could but did not have enough energy to cope with her power game.

Williams served eight aces and had one serve at 204kph, while Tamarine had no aces and had an average first-serve speed of just 145kph.

Tamarine fashioned 10 break points, but converted only once. The key game was the sixth of the first set, when Williams saved six break points - mostly on Tamarine errors - and finished with a 203kph service winner to hold for 4-2.

With top seed Ana Ivanovic and No 3 Maria Sharapova eliminated last week, none of the top four seeded women reached the quarter-finals - the first time that has happened at Wimbledon and also the first time at any Grand Slam tournament in the 40-year history of the Open era.

The men's quarter-finals are set for today, with five-time champion Roger Federer and two-time runner-up Rafael Nadal seemingly headed toward a third straight championship showdown.

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