Minister implicates Thai party boss

Minister implicates Thai party boss

BANGKOK (AP): A series of embarrassments to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's government widened on Wednesday in the aftermath of a Cabinet reshuffle that revived images of corruption associated with a key coalition partner.

Pongpol Adireksarn, removed by his own Chart Thai party as agricultural minister in Tuesday's reshuffle, accused party boss Banharn Silpa-archa of sidelining him because he had resisted Banharn's alleged attempts at getting his hands on ministry money.

Pongpol told a news conference late Tuesday that he had incurred Banharn's ire when he refused to allow him to oversee a US$600 million loan from the Asian Development Bank to restructure Thailand's agricultural sector.

"My pledges to safeguard the Asian Development Bank loan might have irked some greedy people," Pongpol was quoted as saying in The Nation newspaper. "The party has plunged to its lowest point in 25 years because the party is led by a dictator."

The accusations from Pongpol, generally perceived as a well- educated, honest member of the party, carried echoes of 1995- 1996, when Banharn was prime minister of a government widely perceived as one of the most corrupt Thailand had known.