Saxena case not yet complete

Prosecutors need another three days to complete their case against extradited banker Rakesh Saxena, who is charged over the Bangkok Bank of Commerce scandal,Seksan Bangsombun, chief prosecutor for economic and resource cases said on Wednesday.

Mr Seksan spoke shortly after public prosecutors met to examine the case report, which includes a translation by a foreign affairs interpreter of Mr Saxena's interrogation by by police on his arival back in Thailand.

The prosecutors' meeting lasted more than two hours.

Mr Seksan said there are two points that still need to be worked on -- the translation of an English-language document that is presented as part of the evidence, and the  explanation of the rights of the suspect under criminal law to fight the charges in court.

Mr Saxena had not yet been officially informed of his rights because he was extradited from Canada and only recently arrived back, he said.

Mr Seksan said the prosecutuion will proced with the case as soon as possible, but all loose ends need to be tightly wrapped up first.

Mr Saxena is being charged in four of the 29 cases relating to the embezzlement of 45 billion baht from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which collapsed in 1996.

The bank's failure sparked a crisis in Thailand's in finance sector, which was the catalyst for the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98.