Thai coup chief says Thaksin in danger if returns

BANGKOK, June 13 (Reuters) Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will not dare to return from exile because he could be assassinated by his opponents, the general who removed him in a bloodless coup last year said today.

Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said remarks by Thaksin's lawyer suggesting the former telecommunications tycoon would return to fight graft charges were just a tactic to boost a street campaign against the post-coup, interim government.

''The majority of people still oppose him so if he came back now, in the middle of the crisis, it would put his life in danger,'' Sonthi told a Bangkok radio station. ''It would be very dangerous for him.'' Although heartened by the government's announcement yesterday that Thaksin was free to return, some of his supporters cautioned that it could be a trap to lure him back to Thailand in order to eliminate him.

One speaker at a pro-Thaksin rally outside Bangkok's glittering Grand Palace even alluded to Philippine opposition leader Ninoy Aquino, shot dead at Manila airport in 1983 on returning from exile.

An Asset Examination Committee appointed after the coup upped the stakes against Thaksin on Monday, ordering domestic banks to freeze 1.5 billion dollar of his assets held in 21 domestic accounts.

Lawyer Noppadon Pattama said Thaksin, who was in New York at the time of the September 19 coup and now lives in London, might return sooner than originally planned to try to clear his name and get his money back.

Changing a long-held stance that Thaksin should not return until after elections slated for December, interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said he was free to return to whenever he wished. Surayud also gave a personal guarantee of his safety.

Reuters SM GC1634