by LFC #1 » Tue May 11, 2004 12:28 pm
Amnesty warns Reds on Thai PM deal
Human rights campaigners have warned Liverpool against accepting the proposed £60m investment from billionaire Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Premier is hopeful of purchasing a stake of as much as 30 per cent in the Anfield club by the end of the week. However, Shinawatra's government has been severely criticised by Amnesty International.
It is unclear whether the finds involved in the deal are coming from Thaksin's personal business fortune or public funds.
Spokesman Jakrapob Penkair is reported to have said today: 'We will buy it in the name of Thailand. We want Thai people to be part of the purchase.
'The Thai government is the one that negotiated the deal, not Thaksin and most of the money will come from public funds.'
This would appear to contradict assurances made by Thailand's Deputy Minister of Commerce Pongsak Ruktapongpisal over the weekend.
'I also want to assure you that the money comes from the Prime Minister himself not from public funds,' he said in a statement.
Neil Durkin, an Amnesty spokesman, told The Daily Telegraph: 'Thailand's human rights record has been a particular concern recently following a government-led "drugs war" that has seen several thousand drugs suspects killed by law enforcement officers.
'In one three-month period alone last year, a staggering 2,245 people were killed according to official statistics. We have called on the Thai government to allow independent investigations into this worrying wave of killings.'
Steven Kelly, editor of Liverpool fanzine Through the Wind and the Rain, added: 'We should have distanced ourselves from this guy from day one. If we had an ounce of humanity we should have said 'No' immediately.
'He [Shinawatra] doesn't look like the kind of character you should be doing business with. There is going to be controversy about it. It's dragging morality down when the majority of people say "As long as the team is good, I don't care".'
Shinawatra, a former police official who made his fortune in telecommunications, has been in talks with Reds chief executive Rick Parry, said: 'If the board are happy with the result of talks then we can make a joint announcement later this week, maybe Friday.
'It is a good business prospect since the team is in the top five of the English Premiership.'
His spokesman, Chakrapot Penkai, added: 'Why does the prime minister want to invest in Liverpool? Because it is the era of the brand name, with a good quality brand name you can do many things.
'Liverpool's name is a world-class name - people attach their fantasies, their liking for sports, their enhancement in life, their self-development, along with this kind of team.
'Thailand is an up and coming country, so we need some names to help us come into the global era.'
Part of any deal could see Liverpool setting up an academy in Thailand and help with the country's professional league. The Reds faced Thailand's national team in a friendly last July, winning 3-1 in Bangkok.
This is a worrying thing, i can see the positive of the money, but who is this guy, he doesn't seem like the sort of man a football club should be involved with.
