Rakesh Saxena
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Rakesh Saxena (born 1952) is an Indian financier. As of 2005, he is waiting extraditions from Canada to Thailand accused of embezzlement.
Rakesh Saxena was born in Indore, India, on July 13 1952. He studied in India and in Britain, and graduated with master's degree in English. He concentrated on financial deals and foreign exchange speculation, first in Kochi and then working for the Oriental Bank of Commerce in Delhi, before the Indian government nationalized.
Saxena moved to Hong Kong, where he met his second wife. He first worked as a foreign exchange dealer and then joined Wocom Commodities. When the Bank of Credit and Commerce International sued him for overspending, he moved to Bangkok in 1985.
In Bangkok, Saxena dealt in speculation of buying and selling companies and wrote a financial column in the Bangkok Post, spoke in seminars of foreign exchange trading and formed numerous contacts in the business community. Among his interests were mines in Sierra Leone, companies in Australia, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, Russia, Thailand and Virgin Islands, and number of Swiss bank accounts. He had regular bodyguard escort. His accountant Les Hammond later admitted that he had founded a number of shell companies in several countries.
In 1989 Saxena became advisor to Krirk-kiat Jalichandra, new senior vice-president of Bangkok Bank of Commerce. The bank tried hostile takeovers against many of the large Thai companies that traded publicly on the stock exchange. According to later investigation, it also gave cheap loans to various Thai public officials and politicians.
Bangkok Bank of Commerce collapsed in 1996 and the Bank of Thailand took it over. The collapse contributed to the Asian financial recession, economic and political crisis and the 1997 devaluation of the bath. Saxena and Krikkiat fled to Switzerland.
In June 1996, Thai authorities charged Saxena, Krikkiat Jalichandre and Adnan Khashoggi and number of other people for embezzling money estimated to be worth $US2.2 billion. Saxema himself had siphoned off £300 million in 1992-1993. Saxena said that he was just an advisor and that the collapse of Thailand's sex trade was the real trigger of the recession.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Saxena in July 7 1996 at Whistler, British Columbia, on behest of the Thai police. He was initially imprisoned in the Canadian jail. Saxena resisted extradition, claiming that he would be killed if he would return to Thailand.
In February 1998 Saxena was put on bail of $2.5 million because he was regarded as a flight risk. British Columbia Supreme Court overturned this ruling in June 24 1998 and allowed him to resist extradition living in his $500.000 house in Vancouver, under his own guards in an effective house arrest at his own expense.
September 4 1998 Thailand asked authorities in 22 countries to freeze his assets, which, at the time, amounted to equal to $135-300 million. Thailand also filed a civil suit against him.
As of February 2006, he is still in Canada, handling his businesses from his condominium. One of the things he was involved in was financing Sandline International, when it was allegedly hired to help Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, ousted president of Sierra Leone, to return to power. Saxena financed the attempt in exchange of diamond exploration permits. The so-called Arms for Africa deal collapsed when the documents about the affair were leaked to The Globe and Mail.
In September 2005 the lower Canadian court ruled that Saxema should be extradited but the government of Canada did not enforce a ruling in 2003. Saxena further delayed his extradition with further appeals. In October 21 2005 Canadian court postponed Saxena's extradition once again until January 2006. Statute of limitations under Thailand law regarding his case may have already ended after 10 years of his fighting extradition.
On January 27, 2006 Rakesh Saxena lost his B.C. Court of Appeal bid to overturn the federal justice minister's order that he be surrendered to Thai authorities, despite his contention that he could by killed or tossed in an inhumane prison cell in Thailand. Saxena's lawyer is appealing the decision.
Rakesh Saxena is also a defendant in number of Civil Lawsuits in United States. Including United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
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