Thai agency: Former PM to blame in temple dispute

A former Thai prime minister and foreign minister should be criminally prosecuted for endorsing Cambodia's bid to have an ancient temple on their shared border listed as a world heritage site, a state agency ruled Tuesday.

The two countries have a longrunning territorial dispute over land surrounding the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. That dispute escalated this week as Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that any Thai who illegally entered Cambodian territory would be shot.

Last week, several hundred members of a Thai nationalist group tried to force their way near the site, triggering clashes with police and residents inside Thailand that injured at least 17 people.

On Tuesday, Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission said former Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and former Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama should be prosecuted for dereliction of duty and negligence. It said a Cabinet resolution last year to endorse Cambodia's listing of Preah Vihear as a UNESCO World Heritage Site was illegal because it was issued without consulting Parliament.

"As the head of government at the time, (Samak) should know that the matter was sensitive and likely to have both social consequences and legal consequences," commission spokesman Klanarong Jantik said.

The commission will forward its findings to the state prosecutor's office, which will decide whether to file charges. Neither of the former officials was immediately available to comment on the ruling.

The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved. Critics claim the Cabinet endorsement was tantamount to conceding the 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles) of land to Cambodia.

The Constitutional Court last year ruled that a joint communique Noppadon signed with Cambodia backing the UNESCO bid violated the constitution, and Thailand withdrew its endorsement.

However, the counter-corruption commission's finding is likely to be seen by some as reflecting political bias, because it fits a pattern of rulings against supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power.

Samak became prime minister after a pro-Thaksin political party won a December 2007 general election but was forced out of office when a court ruled that payment he received for hosting a TV cooking show constituted an illegal conflict of interest.