IN TERMS OF public relations, the Thai Government couldn't have picked a worse time to put the squeeze on critical voices in the media.
Media executives from around the region who happened to be in Bangkok for the Asian publishing industry's annual conference got a ringside view of what appeared to be a particularly clumsy attempt by the Government of Thaksin Shinawatra to put pressure on Thailand's press.
At the centre of the storm is an investigation that the Government's anti-money laundering office launched into the finances of several journalists, including senior figures in the Nation Multimedia Group of newspapers and the Thai-language Thai Post newspaper.
The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) is meant to investigate money laundering related to drug trafficking and other serious crimes, and in the past it has performed creditably, freezing bank accounts of various drug barons.
But this time, based on an 'anonymous letter', it decided to investigate the bank accounts of journalists critical of the Government as well as several social activists. What connection well-known journalists, including the Nation group's editor-in-chief, Suthichai Yoon, could have with laundering dirty money is a question that no one in the Government has a satisfactory answer for.
After expressions of public outrage, the investigation has been called off, but the question that is unanswered is who instructed Amlo to investigate the journalists. An official government inquiry has blamed two senior Amlo officials for being overzealous, but there is widespread suspicion that the officials are being made scapegoats, and the real orders came from higher up.
Mr Suthichai is convinced the order came from the Government. 'There has been a conspiracy to take legal action in the course of intimidation and blackmail against us. It is definitely a politically motivated mission,' he said.