Mining company says CEO not wanted by Thai police

Rusoro Mining Ltd. has fired back at my report Saturday that the company's chief executive officer has been accused by the Thai government of plundering millions of dollars from the now-defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC).

Andre Agapov, a Russian national who is now living in London, is CEO and a director of Rusoro Mining Ltd., which is based in Vancouver and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange.

In a request for assistance issued to the U.S. government in March 2002, Thai authorities named Agapov as a co-conspirator along with Krekkiat Jalichan, the bank's former managing director, Jalichan's former adviser, Rakesh Saxena, and nine other individuals and companies in a scheme to defraud the bank of hundreds of millions of dollars in the mid-1990s.

As noted in my column Saturday, several years have passed since the request was issued and there have been frequent regime changes in Thailand, raising questions as to whether Thai authorities are still pursuing the allegations against Agapov.

It's clear, however, that Thailand has been pursuing its allegations against other accused. In 1996, RCMP arrested Saxena in Whistler and the Canadian justice department commenced extradition proceedings at the behest of Thai authorities. Saxena, who is under house arrest in Richmond, has been fighting extradition ever since.

Meanwhile, Jalichan voluntarily returned to Thailand. In December 2005 he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail. Since then he has been convicted of many more crimes relating to the bank collapse and has been sentenced to a total of 130 years in jail and ordered to pay enormous fines. He is appealing his convictions.

Also in December 2005, two other people named in the request for assistance, former senior bank executives Damrongdej Diskul and Supanee Sarasin Diskul, were each sentenced to a six years and eight months in jail and hit with heavy fines. Both were said to be appealing the convictions.

On Sunday, after my column was published, Rusoro Mining issued a news release saying that my story "falsely implied" that Thai authorities had charged Agapov. "In fact, no criminal charges have ever been filed against Mr. Agapov, either in Thailand or elsewhere," the company stated.

The company is correct. Although the request for assistance specifically states that Jalichan, Saxena and the other accused are "charged" with offences relating to the bank scandal, they are not charged in the formal sense.

Deborah Strachan, lead Crown counsel in the Saxena extradition case, explained in an interview that, under Thai law, accused persons are not formally charged until they are returned to Thailand.

Instead, Thai authorities issue a "prosecution order" containing the allegations. She noted that Saxena, for example, has never been formally charged, but he is subject to a prosecution order, which is considered sufficient for the purpose of an extradition proceeding.

Agapov was also subject to a prosecution order. The Thai government's request for assistance specifically states that Agapov "has been issued a prosecution order." It adds that "his extradition has not yet been sought because the Royal Thai government still could not find his whereabouts."

As noted in my Saturday column, if that was the case then, it certainly is not now. Agapov is now living in London and working openly as a senior officer and director of Rusoro Mining. This raises questions about how seriously the Thai government wants him, if at all.

Two of the alleged co-conspirators in the request for assistance are companies that were allegedly used to spirit bank funds out of Thailand. Those companies are International Credit Brokerage Holding Inc., a Delaware-registered company, and OLBI USA Inc., a New York-based company.

In both cases, the request for assistance names Agapov and Saxena as the companies' representatives. It further alleges that these companies were "engaged in no legitimate business in Thailand" and "the sole purpose of [their] business in Thailand was for diverting BBC funds."

Rusoro Mining presents a much more benign picture of Agapov's involvement in OLBI: "In the early 1990s, Mr. Agapov had a junior position in the Russian banking and commercial organization called 'OLBI'. In Bangkok, he served as a Russian/English translator for a principal of OLBI," Rusoro states in its release.

Rusoro's description of Agapov as a junior employee is not consistent with a release issued by Vancouver-based Centrasia Mining Corp. in July 2007 when it appointed Agapov to its advisory board. In that release, Centrasia said, "Between 1993 and 1995, he was general manager of OLBI International, at the time, the largest Russian trading house/financial institution based in New York."

Rusoro further states in its release that, due to Agapov's junior position in OLBI, "Thai authorities interviewed him as a friendly witness and assured him that he was not under investigation."

It further states that "U.S. court records pertaining to [the request for assistance] show that it was closed out in May 20, 2002, without any charges being filed. Moreover, Mr. Agapov has traveled to Thailand since 2002 on more than one occasion without difficulty."

Court documents issued by U.S. District Court in Delaware show that, on May 17, 2002, the judge who was considering the Thai request for assistance authorized Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Andrews "to execute the letter of request."

That order included a direction to "certify and submit the evidence collected to the Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, or as otherwise directed by that office for transmission to the Kingdom of Thailand authorities."

That order was filed in court on May 20, 2002. It appears that, having acquiesced to the request and authorized somebody to gather the information, the judge closed the case on the same day.

Contrary to Rusoro's suggestions, there is no indication the Thai government abandoned its request for assistance, or its allegations against the 12 accused, at that time.

Meanwhile, Rusoro has filed a prospectus for a $100-million equity offering. The underwriters, Canaccord Capital and GMP Securities, agreed to buy the entire issue for subsequent distribution to their clients. The deal is expected to close today.

dbaines@vancouversun.com