Unofficial Translation

News Conference on Case Concerning Thai Staff at CATS

(November 20, 2009)

The news conference was conducted on November 20, 2009 at the Office of the Council of Ministers in which Cambodian officials rejected the reports posted in the Bangkok Post and The Nation that Cambodia had fired the ten Thai staff, who worked for the Cambodia Air Traffic Service (CATS), following a Thai engineer of the CATS has been arrested of working as spy. 

His Excellency Tekreth Samrach, Secretary of State of the Office of the Council of Ministers, affirmed that Cambodia had not fired those staff as claimed in the newspapers. But for the sake of the Cambodia’s national security and safety, we decided to temporarily place the flight control system under the management of the Cambodian technical experts, of the CATS, instead of. At the same time, Cambodian staff may consult technical issues with the Thai engineers, for sake of the company’s operation, if needed. 

His Excelleny Tekreth Samrach also stressed that “today, we cannot assure the national security can be guaranteed if our radar flight control system is managed by the Thai experts.

 So, the measure which has been taken by the government is to fully ensure the strictly security and safety for the nation as a whole.

 Cambodia has to improve her safety for the time being given the Thai engineer Sivarak Chutiphong, of Cambodia Air Traffic Service, has been arrested and charged with spying over leaking the flight schedule, of Thaksin Shinawatra visited Cambodia on November 10, 2009, to Thailand and its Embassy in Cambodia.

 The stated confidential information was leaked and coincided with the Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, in charge of security, was quoted in the Bangkok Post that Thailand is ready to arrest the fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra whenever he travels across Thailand.

 Major General Chhay Sinareth, chief of the internal security department of Interior Ministry, told the news conference that the Thai engineer was arrested upon the request made by the Cambodian Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) over leaking the information of Thaksin’s flight schedule. Mr. Sinareth also affirmed that “we have found the document related to the flight information of Thaksin, especially the suspect himself confessed in writing that he has relationship with and received the instruction from the First Secretary of the Thailand’s embassy in Cambodia.

 Referring to request of visiting Sivarak Chutiphong, Koy Kuong, who is undersecretary and also spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said Cambodia allowed the Thai Embassy’s representative to visit the suspect on November 17, 2009.

(Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Office of the Council of Ministers)