Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 5, 2006 10:34:51 GMT -5
PM - Two face death penalty over Australian's murder
[This is the print version of story www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1733784.htm]
PM - Tuesday, 5 September , 2006 18:37:32
Reporter: Karen Percy
MARK COLVIN: The close ties between business and politics in Thailand are under the spotlight tonight after the release today of the alleged mastermind of the murder of Australian accountant Michael Wansley in 1999.
The man was a member of a leading Thai family, and the manager of the sugar mill where Mr Wansley had uncovered financial irregularities.
The manager has now been spared action, but three others have been found guilty of murder and conspiracy.
Two of them will face the death penalty.
South East Asia Correspondent Karen Percy reports from Bangkok.
KAREN PERCY: On March the 10th, 1999, Michael Wansley was travelling in a minivan, on his way to visit one of three sugar mills owned by a leading Thai family in Nakhon Sawan province about 250 kilometres north of Bangkok.
He was in Thailand to assist local firms to restructure their finances in the wake of the Asian economic crisis of 1997.
It's believed Michael Wansley found financial irregularities when he looked closely at the sugar business. There are also reports that he feared for his safety and warned the Australian Embassy at the time.
While it's been more than seven years since 58-year-old was gunned down by a local hit man, it's only now that those responsible are only now facing justice.
Today a Bangkok court found two of the men guilty of murder and conspiracy. They'll face death by lethal injection. Another man was found guilty of hiring someone to murder Mr Wansley and was sentenced to life. They're likely to appeal those sentences.
There's also an expectation that there'll be an appeal against the ruling today that the case against a fourth man - the manager of the sugar mill and a member of the Thai family which ran the business - has been dismissed.
Graham Catterwell is a former banker from the United Kingdom who was also assisting Thai firms at the time.
He says there was a climate of insecurity for foreign businesses.
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Well it was certainly interesting. A lot of people were going bankrupt. A lot of money was being lost. And of course a lot of people were upset by that.
KAREN PERCY: Do you know of other businessmen who were in a similar situation to Michael Wansley; that is, they were aware that there were threats against them, or possible threats against them?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Indeed, yes. I knew of quite a few. Indeed, I had some myself.
KAREN PERCY: And what was behind that do you think?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Well in my particular case, I was collecting bad debts for a financial institution, rather early in the phase, such as in early '97, and a number of the people were not used to being asked to pay back. And they took a sort of violent reaction.
KAREN PERCY: There seems to be some disillusionment or disappointed about what has happened to the mill manager, who is linked to a big family.
What do you know about how these families work, and how they might operate?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: I don't know the specific details of this case, but in general it is very difficult to place the sort of masterminds behind these kinds of shootings because the links are so dispersed.
So, I don't find it that surprising that they haven't got everybody that might have been involved in this particular case.
KAREN PERCY: When you say "the links are dispersed", what do you mean by that? That these families have very overreaching powers in the areas they operate?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Yes, that, plus they have links with other powerful groups around the country. And you can't... it's very difficult to follow that chain of links through.
KAREN PERCY: The man who's alleged to have pulled the trigger eight times to kill Michael Wansley is currently in a Thai jail awaiting sentencing.
This is Karen Percy in Bangkok, reporting for PM.
© 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
[This is the print version of story www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1733784.htm]
PM - Tuesday, 5 September , 2006 18:37:32
Reporter: Karen Percy
MARK COLVIN: The close ties between business and politics in Thailand are under the spotlight tonight after the release today of the alleged mastermind of the murder of Australian accountant Michael Wansley in 1999.
The man was a member of a leading Thai family, and the manager of the sugar mill where Mr Wansley had uncovered financial irregularities.
The manager has now been spared action, but three others have been found guilty of murder and conspiracy.
Two of them will face the death penalty.
South East Asia Correspondent Karen Percy reports from Bangkok.
KAREN PERCY: On March the 10th, 1999, Michael Wansley was travelling in a minivan, on his way to visit one of three sugar mills owned by a leading Thai family in Nakhon Sawan province about 250 kilometres north of Bangkok.
He was in Thailand to assist local firms to restructure their finances in the wake of the Asian economic crisis of 1997.
It's believed Michael Wansley found financial irregularities when he looked closely at the sugar business. There are also reports that he feared for his safety and warned the Australian Embassy at the time.
While it's been more than seven years since 58-year-old was gunned down by a local hit man, it's only now that those responsible are only now facing justice.
Today a Bangkok court found two of the men guilty of murder and conspiracy. They'll face death by lethal injection. Another man was found guilty of hiring someone to murder Mr Wansley and was sentenced to life. They're likely to appeal those sentences.
There's also an expectation that there'll be an appeal against the ruling today that the case against a fourth man - the manager of the sugar mill and a member of the Thai family which ran the business - has been dismissed.
Graham Catterwell is a former banker from the United Kingdom who was also assisting Thai firms at the time.
He says there was a climate of insecurity for foreign businesses.
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Well it was certainly interesting. A lot of people were going bankrupt. A lot of money was being lost. And of course a lot of people were upset by that.
KAREN PERCY: Do you know of other businessmen who were in a similar situation to Michael Wansley; that is, they were aware that there were threats against them, or possible threats against them?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Indeed, yes. I knew of quite a few. Indeed, I had some myself.
KAREN PERCY: And what was behind that do you think?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Well in my particular case, I was collecting bad debts for a financial institution, rather early in the phase, such as in early '97, and a number of the people were not used to being asked to pay back. And they took a sort of violent reaction.
KAREN PERCY: There seems to be some disillusionment or disappointed about what has happened to the mill manager, who is linked to a big family.
What do you know about how these families work, and how they might operate?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: I don't know the specific details of this case, but in general it is very difficult to place the sort of masterminds behind these kinds of shootings because the links are so dispersed.
So, I don't find it that surprising that they haven't got everybody that might have been involved in this particular case.
KAREN PERCY: When you say "the links are dispersed", what do you mean by that? That these families have very overreaching powers in the areas they operate?
GRAHAM CATTERWELL: Yes, that, plus they have links with other powerful groups around the country. And you can't... it's very difficult to follow that chain of links through.
KAREN PERCY: The man who's alleged to have pulled the trigger eight times to kill Michael Wansley is currently in a Thai jail awaiting sentencing.
This is Karen Percy in Bangkok, reporting for PM.
© 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation