Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has filed two slander suits against friend-turn-foe media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, demanding 500 million baht ($12 million) in compensation, a court official said yesterday. The civil and criminal cases – filed separately on Friday – accused Sondhi, his TV show co-host and its production firm of slandering state officials and defaming them in a television show that has since been taken off the air, a civil court official said. These are the first libel suits Thaksin has brought since he took power in 2001, although Shin Corp, Thailand’s largest telecoms firm which he founded, sued a media freedom activist for $10 million last year. That case is still being tried.

The suits said Sondhi and co-host Sarocha Pornudomsak had accused Thaksin several times of being disloyal to the monarchy during the Thailand Weekly show aired on Sept. 9 on state-run Channel 9, Sondhi’s newspaper, Manager, said on its web site. “Both defendants took advantage of being the mass media in their show to slander the plaintiff unfairly beyond the boundary of media freedom,” said the web site. State-run MCOT banned the current affairs show after that broadcast, citing repetition of “unfair” criticisms against various parties and unncessary mentions of the revered monarchy.

Sondhi, once a staunch Thaksin supporter, then took his show on the road, staging it twice at a Bangkok university, drawing thousands of people with hard-hitting attacks on Thaksin and his government. The tycoon, whose empire of satellites, regional newspapers and magazines is now financially healthy after three years in bankruptcy, filed a civil case against MCOT for 1-baht compensation. Sondhi is running a “We Love the King” campaign, accusing the government of infringing on the monarchy’s powers. Sondhi was not available for immediate comment. Neither were Thaksin’s lawyers and his cabinet staff.

<B>Panarat Thepgumpanat</B>