Hun Sen calls for Thai probe into Thaksin following Kok An scandal

Cambodia’s strongman Hun Sen has called on Thailand to launch a criminal investigation into former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, formerly one of his close friends.

His statement followed a widespread crackdown by Thai police on one of Hun Sen’s close aides, Kok An, who is allegedly involved in call centre scams and underground gambling dens in Thailand.

Citing Thai media outlets, Hun Sen said that both the investigation into and crackdown on Kok An were the results of his close ties to him.

“Therefore, the Thai court should also launch an investigation into Thaksin, since it is widely known that Thaksin is extremely close to me as well. So close, in fact, that he even has a reserved room at my home,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Hun Sen questioned whether a Thai court would dare to act consistently, with the taunt: “Let’s see if the Thai court dares to open an investigation into Thaksin.”

Describing Thailand as "dropping a rock on its own foot," Hun Sen said he sincerely congratulates the Thai authorities and police for launching operations to crack down on online crime on their territory.

“This effort contributes to reducing the flow of cybercrime into Cambodia, crimes that have long flourished unchecked across Thai soil,” he claimed, adding that the suppression of online criminal networks should have been implemented long ago.

The decades-long cross-border relationship between Hun Sen and the Shinawatra family has come to an end, after Hun Sen’s side leaked a recording of a conversation between him and the then Thai Prime Minister.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s referring to Hun Sen as “uncle,” using her personal mobile phone to call him and being heard to criticise a Thai military commander as an “opponent’, led to her suspension from the premiership by the Constitutional Court while it considers the case.