Bt1m for anyone who prove pact get oil concessions in return

Noppadon Pattama

January 19, 2010
The Nation
THAI-CAMBODIA MOU ON PREAH VIHEAR TEMPLE

Noppadon Pattana, spokesman for ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said he would reward Bt1 million to anyone who can prove that the former leader had traded the memorandum of understanding on Preah Vihear with petroleum concessions from Cambodia.

Noppadon declared this at a press conference organised to respond to allegations from the Democrats that Thaksin was mobilising his red shirts and planning to use Cambodia as a base to apply pressure on the Supreme Court's Office of Political Holders.

"The Democrats are trying to sling mud at Thaksin and his red-shirt supporters," Noppadon said. "If look back in history, someone had shouted [in a theatre] that Pridi [Banomyong, the late statesman], had killed the King [Rama VIII]. That did not make it true"

Noppadon said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other Democrats had shown up at the yellow shirt rallies, held during the time of Samak Sundarvej's government, to give them support. In fact, some Democrats even made public addresses on the yellow shirts' forum, he added.

A political storm is brewing ahead of the Supreme Court's verdict on Thaksin's Bt76-billion asset case slated for February 26, and the former PM is resorting to all sorts of tactics to regain his assets.

"I would like to stress that Thaksin would do nothing to hurt the country. How long the Democrats manage to remain the government is their business. Thaksin loves this country, and would not resort to any move to apply pressure on the Supreme Court," Noppadon said.

He added that the Democrats alleged that while he was foreign minister, he had signed an MoU with Cambodia on the inscription of Phreah Vihear as a Unesco World Heritage Site in exchange for Thaksin gaining oil concessions in Cambodia. Yet, he added, a year has gone by but nobody has stepped forward with evidence.

He said he was setting aside Bt1 million from his own pocket to give as a reward to anyone who can prove that he had signed the MoU in exchange for oil concessions.

"If this is true, Thaksin will hand the oil concessions over to the person who proves it. That person will also get Bt1 million from me.

Besides, money will also be given to anybody who can prove that Thaksin's assets have been seized by the UK authorities," he said.

Noppadon showed the Bt1 million to the press.

When questioned why Thaksin has not talked the red shirts out of rallying after February 14, Noppadon said their movements had nothing to do with Thaksin, though they both had the same objective - seeking justice.

Officials reject Thai group's claims over French oil deal

Monday, 03 August 2009
Sebatian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

But protests highlight the challenges of drilling for oil in disputed areas.

CAMBODIAN officials have dismissed Thai protesters' claims that a recent oil exploration agreement between Cambodia and French oil giant Total is a violation of Thai sovereignty, saying Cambodia has the right to award exploration rights inside the Gulf of Thailand's 27,000-square-kilometre overlapping claims area (OCA).

During Prime Minister Hun Sen's visit to France last month, officials announced an agreement offering Total the exploration rights to a 2,430-square-kilometre block - known as Area III - that sits inside the OCA.

According to Thai media reports, the People's Assembly of Thailand (PAT), a nationalist advocacy group, wrote to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Thursday to criticise the government and the armed forces for not taking action to head off the deal, which they said infringes on Thai territory.

A copy of the letter was also reportedly sent to the French Embassy in Bangkok.

Var Kimhong, Cambodia's top border negotiator, said he had not seen the Thai letter, but that Cambodia had the right to award exploration rights as it saw fit.

"The Thai authorities have nothing to do with the block we have given to Total," he said. "It is under Cambodian sovereignty."

However, the letter raises questions about future exploration of the OCA, including Area III. Bangkok has also allocated the zone, which it refers to as B10 and B11, to US oil company Chevron and Japan's Mitsui.

Jean-Pierre Labbe, general manager of Total EP Cambodge, told the Post in July that Total would sign a 10-year conditional petroleum agreement for Area III, the terms of which would prevent the company from undertaking any explorations until a resolution was reached with Thailand over the ownership of the zone.

On Thursday, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Vimol Kidchop said similarly that any company operating inside the OCA would "not be allowed to explore or develop petroleum resources ... unless Thailand and Cambodia successfully resolve the dispute".

Joint development?
Past cases may offer a way forward with the OCA. In 2000, the governments of Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe signed an agreement for the joint development of a disputed 35,000-square-kilometre maritime zone after failing to reach an agreement on border delimitation.

According to a paper presented at an International Oil and Gas Conference, held in Cambodia in March 2008, the two countries "agreed to work together to develop the area and to benefit from any oil or gas discoveries that are made".

Labbe said he expected some form of joint development agreement would be required between Cambodia and Thailand, rather than a strict geographical division of the OCA. But he said it was unclear whether the countries would be able to reach such an agreement.

Thitinan Ponsudhirak, a political analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, described the issue as a "follow-on" to the standoff over Preah Vihear temple and said that the dispute was unlikely to be resolved soon.

"[The OCA issue] is held hostage to Thai-Cambodian relations, and Thai-Cambodian relations are rocky at the moment," he said by phone.

Labbe said negotiations between the two countries had been set back by the coup that removed former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006, but he remained optimistic that the OCA issue would soon be resolved.

"Every time there is a meeting... they discuss the issue positively," he said last month.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STEVE FINCH