As BP has already blogged Nalinee Taweesin, the new PM’s Office Minister, has been designated by the US Treasury Department as a crony of the Mugabe regime. As a result of this designation, all of her assets within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen, but more importantly “U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions” with a designated person. What does this mean for US citizens and companies dealing with Nalinee?

Clif Burns, who is a lawyer at Bryan Cave in Washington, DC, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, writes on export control matters for the Export Control Law blog. He blogs:

The issue now is whether Ms. Taveesin’s presence on the SDN list has any impact on business deals with the Thai government in which she may be involved. The SDN list would seemingly bar transactions with her both in her private and in her official capacity. OFAC has, at least in the case of the Palestinian Authority, held that the presence of sanctioned individuals in a government agency or body could prevent transactions with the government agency itself, effectively eliminating any notion that someone can be sanctioned vis-à-vis their private activities but not their official governmental activities.

I’ll have to be honest and say that I have no idea what the PM’s Office Minister in Thailand does, but U.S. businesses doing business with the government of Thailand should be wary and make sure that Ms. Taveesin has no connection with, or involvement in, the transaction.

BP: If Burn’s interpretation is correct, this is even more serious than BP realized – initially would have though it would affect her personal transactions, but not when done in an official capacity – and it really makes her position untenable. Thai Rath columnist Mae Look Chan, as translated by the Bangkok Post:

It is unclear if the prime minister was aware of the US blacklist against Ms Nalinee, but she now has a political hot potato to handle. And even though Ms Nalinee’s appointment is not in violation of any Thai law, her presence in the cabinet would taint the government’s image.

Ms Nalinee insists that her name on the US Department of Treasury blacklist had resulted from a misunderstanding. But this is beside the point. She should have foreseen the ramifications of her appointment from the very beginning.

To save the government from further criticism and embarrassment, Ms Nalinee should step down. By doing so, she will be regarded as having upheld political ethics.

BP: She is going to have to go eventually, but how long will it take? The Guardian has some comments by Thitinan which suggests she may be around for a while:

“[Nalinee's] appointment means that patronage politics rules – this is payback time,” says political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University.

….”This is a game of musical chairs that Thaksin is conducting … [which] allows Thaksin to pay back the Red Shirts by appointing Nalinee and their most fiery orator [Nattawut Saikua] to cabinet positions.”

BP:  She has stated she has hired a US lawyer so if she is telling the truth about her relationship with Mugabe and is able to be removed from the blacklist then it would seem reasonable she can return to Cabinet, but there is just no way that this looks good for the government to keep her around…..

*Having said all that, the below story from The Nation is so weak considering the Mugabe connection:

Nalinee Taveesin, the newly appointed Prime Minister’s Office minister, is a major shareholder in 25 companies that run businesses ranging from cleaning services and air ticketing to spas and telecommunication.

Appointed as the Thailand Trade Representative (TTR) by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government in August, Nalinee holds a 4-per-cent share in those companies and serves as a director in eight of them.

….

The businesses that the 25 companies are involved in include book and compact-disc sales, travel agencies, air-ticket and hotel-room reservations, consumer products, agricultural products, clothing, cleaning service, computers, Internet and telecommunications, spas and real estate, the Isra news agency reported.

The companies include Success Development, Success Books, Success Media, Success Information Systems, Success Broadcasting Network, Success Aviation, Success Biotech, Asia Broadband, Global Solar Power, Royal Asia Products, Spa Management and Consultant, Asianet Plus and Aquatis.

Last September, a month after she was appointed as TTR, Nalinee invited ambassadors from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco to discuss measures to boost trade with Thailand, particularly in rice, processed food, medical products, consumer products, cars and automotive parts, and electrical appliances. These products were in addition to tourism, construction, spas and Thai restaurants.

In the same month, Nalinee also met with Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Thailand and a regional airline manager to discuss trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, particularly in the areas of energy, pharmacy, construction, logistics and tourism.

In October, Nalinee visited India in a bid to boost trade and investment in the areas of energy, construction and computer software.

Last month, she met with Portuguese Ambassador Jose Carlos Serafino to discuss trade and investment between the two countries, regarding tourism, energy, mining and wine making.

Critics have noted that many of the sectors that Nalinee has focused on during her meetings with foreign leaders are the businesses that her 25 companies are involved in.

BP: 4% shareholding is major? As anyone heard of any of these companies? No, because they are very minor companies – see also Isra News story (in Thai) for more. BP has highlighted in bold those industries associated with her shareholding and in italics those that are not. Now, if she was promoting the specific travel company which she has a 4% shareholding, that is something different, but does mean she is unable to promote tourism? Most of the topics were on unrelated areas and there is nothing out of the ordinary.

**After writing this post, BP was slight surprised by Tulsathit’s position although was not surprised by Meechai’s position (in Thai only – he goes on an anti-US rant….)