Thaksin asks to release his frozen assets
·Thaksin's lawyers said the account for the foundation should be promptly unfrozen.
·Amnuay Thanthara said his panel is scheduled to review the matter on August 8.
BANGKOK, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has asked the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to promptly unfreeze 2.2 billion baht (about 67 million U.S. dollars) in bank accounts of his family, local media reported.
Noppadol Pattama, legal adviser to the Shinawatra family, said on Friday that Thaksin's lawyers had lodged a petition with the AEC to consider releasing the accounts as they were entitled to the Thai Com Foundation, an organization supposedly aimed at providing financial support for needy children.
The deposed prime minister's lawyers said the account for the foundation should be promptly unfrozen for the sake of the children.
Thaksin's lawyers also called on the AEC subcommittee to consider releasing the accounts in seven days, Noppadol was quoted by the state-run Thai News Agency as saying.
However, subcommittee head Amnuay Thanthara said his panel is scheduled to review the matter on August 8 and that the proposed seven-day timeframe would not be enough to do it.
Other frozen accounts, worth over 50 billion baht (1.5 billion dollars), include those acquired from last year's sales of Shin Corp stocks by the Shinawatra family to Singapore's Temasek Holdings and those acquired from reduced fees for the Shin Corp's telecom concessions.
Since last month, the AEC has ordered assets of the deposed prime minister and his family members in scores of local bank accounts frozen on charges of malfeasance while he was premier and unusually wealthy.
The ruling came after the Constitution Tribunal on May 30 disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, founded by Thaksin, and three small political parties on electoral fraud during a general election in April last year. The election was later ordered null and void.
However, through a video clip released recently, Thaksin said the AEC's order was unfair since they did not have enough evidence.