BANGKOK – The Foreign Ministry announced today a halt to the extradition proceedings of alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the US. Instead, the former KGB agent, and supposed inspiration for the film “Lord of War”, will be extradited to the highest bidder in an attempt at fairness and transparency.
“The Russians lobbied hard to influence the original Criminal Court trial, which ended in their favor. Then the Americans lobbied hard to influence the appeals court decision, which they won. All this lobbying is hard for us to keep track of. So we think an outright auction is best,” said Sirisak Tiyaphan, director for international affairs at the Office of the Attorney General.
The process of deciding where to extradite Bout has caused chaos and gridlock among Thailand’s competing government institutions, all of which want to extract some kind of gain from their piece of the process. As a result, competitive lack of co-operation has stalled the case, preventing anyone from being properly paid off.
“By auctioning him off publically, and splitting the proceeds evenly between the courts, the police, and the Foreign Ministry, we can all come away happy,” said Chartchai Sutthiklom, director-general of the Corrections Department.
“Together we can,” he added.
The auction will be held at the Supreme Court next Monday at 9AM,with the bidding to begin at 100 million baht. Main bidders expected to attend include the Russian government, the US State Department, Mossad, Congo president Joseph Kabila, and a consortium of Hollywood producers headed by Jerry Bruckheimer.
