Princely sum
August 10, 2011
An impounded plane belonging to Thai crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has been granted permission to return to Thailand, officials at Munich airport confirmed Wednesday.
The plane was seized at Munich airport last month as collateral in a long-running commercial dispute between German construction firm Walter Bau and Thai authorities.
The now-insolvent company claimed the Boeing 737 was the property of the Thai state and therefore a legitimate asset to be used to settle outstanding debts dating back more than 20 years.
A 38-million-euro ($54.3 million) surety was posted by the Thai government to secure the release of the prince's personal jet after a German court ruled last month that the release could only be sanctioned if a guarantee was provided.
"The plane has been released," Christoph Fellner, vice-president of the Landshut regional court in the southern state of Bavaria told AFP.
"For this to have happened a surety must have been paid. I haven't yet heard from the parties concerned as to whether the whole affair has been settled and if the main proceedings can now be dropped," he added.
Soaring dispute
Walter Bau was part of a joint venture to construct a 26-kilometer (15 mile) toll road between Bangkok and the former international airport, Don Muang, in the 1990s.
The firm accused Thailand of not sharing the agreed proportion of toll revenues, and in 2009 an international tribunal in Geneva ordered Bangkok to pay 30 million euros in compensation. With interest and court fees, this figure has risen to an estimated 38 million euros.
With the backing of a Berlin court Werner Schneider, the insolvency administrator for bankrupt Walter Bau opted to impound the crown princes' plane as a surety for the outstanding debt.
A Berlin court approved Schneider's request to seize the plane, prompting the Thai foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, to fly to Berlin to personally appeal for its release.
Thailand initially refused to pay the bond, arguing that the plane was the personal property of the prince and not a government asset.
The incident had threatened to strain Thai-German relations and was described as a "huge mistake" by the Thai foreign minister.
Author: Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Nancy Isenson