Thaksin defies Thai graftbusters' order to return

BANGKOK, June 26 (Reuters) Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will not return from exile to the ''killing zone'' of Thailand despite being ordered back to face charges of hiding assets illegally, his lawyer said today.

Thaksin, who had until Friday to respond in person to charges of violating stock regulations and anti-corruption laws, would return to Thailand only after ''democracy is fully restored,'' lawyer Noppadon Pattama told reporters.

''We won't let him return to the killing zone now, but he should come back after the elections,'' Noppadon said referring to a decision by Thaksin's team of lawyers. Noppadon did not say what ''killing zone'' meant, but army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who ousted Thaksin in a bloodless coup last year, said earlier this month Thaksin's safety could not be guaranteed if he returned home now.

''He will return only when he's confident that democracy is fully restored in the country, where we can be assured of a better justice during the trial,'' Noppadon said.

Sunai Manomai-udom, head of the Justice Ministry's Department of Special Investigations, issued the return order last week and said an arrest warrant for Thaksin would be issued if he failed to show up.

Thaksin has also been charged formally with ''official misconduct'' relating to his wife's purchase of a prime piece of Bangkok real estate.

The charges were the first formal legal action taken against Thaksin since he was ousted in a September coup by generals accusing him of presiding over rampant corruption.

However, he has been banned from politics for five years and his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party disbanded for breaking election laws.

An army-appointed probe panel has ordered banks to freeze 1.5 billion dollars of assets held in 21 domestic accounts by Thaksin and his wife, who bought the Bangkok land while he was prime minister at an auction in which other bidders backed out.

A panel of nine judges was due to rule on July 10 whether to proceed with charges arising from the purchase and summarised as ''misconduct of a government official and violation of a ban on state officials being party to transactions involving public interests''.

But Noppadon said Thai law prohibited trial in absentia, which meant the land case would have to be suspended until Thaksin returned.

''Please don't abuse the country's rule of law just to destroy one person,'' Noppadon said.

Thaksin's successor, Surayud Chulanont, has said repeatedly Thaksin could return home safely from his exile in London to fight corruption charges in court.

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