By Pracha Hariraksapitak
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters marched on the offices ofThailand's graftbusting agency on Monday to press for criminalcharges against the government for its role in a dispute overan ancient temple on the Thai-Cambodian border.
The 500 marchers led by the People's Alliance for Democracy(PAD) handed over a petition accusing the cabinet of agreeingto cede land to Cambodia in return for business concessions forousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The charge has been denied by Thaksin and the government inCambodia, where the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple wasapproved as a World Heritage site this month.
"We are exercising our constitutional rights to preserveour territory after the cabinet passed a resolution that wasruled illegal by the Constitutional Court," PAD leader SomsakKosaisuk said at the National Counter Corruption Commissionoffice.
Preah Vihear, built by Khmer kings in the 11th century,sits on top of a jungle-clad escarpment that forms a naturalboundary between Cambodia and Thailand.
It has been a source of tension for decades, butanti-government groups whipped up nationalist fervour over thetemple's listing, accusing Bangkok of selling the country'sheritage.
The Constitutional Court ruling last week that Thailand'sinitial support for the temple listing had violated the chartergave the PAD another weapon to attack the pro-Thaksingovernment.
The coalition of activists, royalists and businessmen haswaged a nearly two-month-old street campaign to oust PrimeMinister Samak Sundaravej, accusing his government of trying toprotect Thaksin from graft charges.
The PAD petition accused Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006coup, of conspiring to cede Thai territory for his personalgain.
NCCC Secretary-General Saravuth Maenasavet told reportersthe agency would decide on Tuesday whether it would investigatethe Preah Vihear case.
If it believed the cabinet broke the law, the NCCC wouldforward its findings to the Supreme Court for a ruling whichcould lead to the government's impeachment by the Senate.
Samak, under pressure from legal cases that already costhim two ministers last week, has blamed the crisis on the 2007constitution, designed by the coupmakers to give judges moreoversight powers in politics.
Shrugging off looming lawsuits and potentially intensifyingstreet protests, he vowed in his weekly TV show on Sunday torewrite the charter, reshuffle his cabinet and unveil aneconomic stimulus package on Tuesday.
The prospect of further strife worried investors who pushedthe main stock index down 1.6 percent at the midday break onMonday. The market is down nearly 18 percent since the streetcampaign began on May 25.
(Writing by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Darren Schuettlerand Valerie Lee)
