Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Thai former PM, FM found to have violated law during listing of Preah Vihear with UNESCO

BANGKOK, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) voted 6:3 to find former prime minister Samak Sundaravej and former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama to have violated Article 157 of the Criminal Code for abuse of authority during the UNESCO-listing process of Preah Vihear temple.

The NACC found the two had violated the law since the then cabinet passed a resolution for Noppadon to sign the Thai-Cambodian communique to support the listing of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), without the Thai parliament approval, Thai News Agency reported.

As Noppadon was the Thai foreign minister in the Samak-led Administration, on July 18 last year, he signed the joint communique with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An for the UNESCO listing of Preah Vihear temple.

The UNESCO, in July 2008, approved Cambodia's bid to list Preah Vihear Temple as the World Heritage Site, since then the temple and its adjacent area have become the sites of border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand.

Editor: Fang Yang

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