Public prosecutors will head to the United Kingdom next month to scrutinise legal avenues to extradite deposed prime minister Thaksin Shina-watra on graft charges in connection with the purchase of land near Ratchadaphisek Road.

Thaksin was indicted by Attorney-General Pachara Yutithamdamrong, who accused him and his wife Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra of malfeasance for seeking personal gains from a state contract, breaching Article 157 of the Criminal Law.

Foreign Affairs Department director-general Sampan Sara-thana said after a meeting yesterday of a special committee that there was only one legal avenue to extradite Thaksin, but it largely depended on UK authorities.

Sampan is deputy chief of a special panel comprising 11 prosecutors appointed to manage the extradition of Thaksin.

"Prosecutors have to prove that the offence Thaksin allegedly committed is an offence in both countries and if there is incriminating evidence for the offence,'' he said.

The prosecutor team believes the malfeasance offence can be cited for extradition, but the offence of seeking personal gain from a state contract was still questionable. The officials would have to work with English officials to sort this out.

"We want justice to prevail so we have to check with our counterparts to create transparency,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Special Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Com-mission yesterday asked for the details of a graft investigation into a shelf company of  Thaksin  which may shed light on another probe relating to his alleged cover-up of equity stakes.

"The investigation into the Win Mark case by the Assets Examination Committee might have a bearing on the SC Asset case involving Thaksin," DSI director general Sunai Mano-maiudom said.

Sunai said the DSI investigators came across a suspected link between Win Mark and the scam to distort equity stakes held by Thaksin and his wife Khunying Pojaman at SC Asset, the listed company for property development.

The link might be in the form of insider information which is an offence under the securities law, he said.

In regard to the progress of the SC Asset case, investigators were still waiting for two company executives, Bussaba Dama-pong and Penchom Damapong, to give statements before next week's deadline, he said.

In a related development, the Anti Money Laundering Office is preparing to assign officials to assist graft busters to trace money routing involving Thaksin.

The tracing of the funds would be activated on "probable cause to suspect guilt", a legal leeway to speed up graft probes. Under normal procedures, money-laundering officials are required to establish cause of guilt before launching an investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also said it is waiting for a report on the Win Mark case before launching its own investigation into insider trading relating to the sale of Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Hold-ings last year.

Thaksin is suspected of using insider information to buy Shin shares from retail investors to boost his stake to 49 per cent before the sell-off.

The Nation - September 14, 2007