'No plans' to extradite Thaksin Shinawatra

Thailand's prime minister Samak Sundaravej said today he had no plans to ask Britain for the extradition of fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra or to revoke his diplomatic passport.

Manchester City FC boss Mr Thaksin and his wife, Pojaman, fled to the UK rather than face trial before the Supreme Court which has issued warrants for their arrest on corruption charges.

The Bangkok court, which concluded the trial without the defendants, said a verdict would be delivered on September 17. The couple are being tried on charges of malfeasance and conflict of interest.

Mr Thaksin was toppled in a 2006 military coup.

Around 2,000 protesters rallied outside Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, demanding that it cancel Mr Thaksin's passport and work to extradite him from Britain, where the multimillionaire owns several properties as well as Manchester City football club.

However, Mr Samak, whose ruling party is packed with allies of the former premier, appeared to reject that course today.

"I have no policy to revoke his passport or doing anything on that," Mr Samak said in response to reporters' questions on whether he would seek Mr Thaksin's extradition.

Mr Thaksin was ousted by the military following months of huge street protests which accused him of massive corruption and trying to subvert the country's fledgling democracy.

Opposition demonstrators, who have been in Bangkok's streets almost daily in recent months, accuse Mr Samak with being a Thaksin proxy, but in recent weeks the prime minister appears to have steered a more independent course.