BKK Post / 8 July 1998  

Official held in Laos 'for trade crime'

   A senior official from Si Sa Ket is being detained in 
the southern Laotian province of Champassak for an 
irregularity involving a Laotian import-export company, 
officials said yesterday.
   Pongvivat Vorachetbancha, a C-8 official from Si Sa Ket, 
was initially taken into custody at the end of June by 
authorities in the central Laotian province of Savannakhet, 
apparently after failing to pay four million baht in fees 
for the export of timber to the Dao Rueng Import Export 
company.
   Pending clarification of the case, the Thai embassy in 
Vientiane has asked for Mr Pongpivat to be transferred back 
to Savannakhet, and allowed a temporary stay at the Thai 
consulate there, officials added.
   But the consular department in Vientiane has yet to 
respond.