The extradition of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States has been delayed because of legal complications, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday.

“It is not today. There are several steps in the legal process,” Mr Abhisit told reporters.

Police said on Tuesday that Mr Bout, who faces charges in the US of dealing with a terrorist group, would be escorted from jail on Wednesday to the Don Mueang airport, where US authorities had a private jet on standby to fly him out.

But the Office of the Attorney-General informed all agencies involved that Mr Bout is facing fresh charges of money laundering and fraud, filed at the request of US authorities, and these require new extradition proceedings.

Therefore, Mr Bout could not be extradited until the new charges are heard and completed, or are dropped.

Meanwhile, Sirichoke Sopha, a Democrat Party MP for Songkhla and close aide to the prime minister, has admitted having visited Mr Bout at the Bangkok Remand Prison, but denied he tried to persuade the Russian to implicate former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in arms dealing.

Mr Sirichoke was responding to an allegation made in the House of Representatives during the 2011 Budget Bill debate on Tuesday by Puea Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan.

Mr Jatuporn said Mr Sirichoke went to see Mr Bout, who is to be extradited to the United States on the order of the Appeal Court, at the Bangkok Remand Prison in violation of  prison regulations and tried to talk Mr Bout into implicating Thaksin in the arms trade, but Mr Bout refused. This resulted in his now facing extradition, he claimed.

Mr Sirichoke said that in going to see Mr Bout he was performing the duty of an MP with proper permission from the Corrections Department to find out if the Russian arms dealer was involved in the transport of a large quantity of weapons found on a plane that made a stopover at Don Mueang airport in December last year. The crew were arrested and later deported.

He said that plane was heading for Sri Lanka at the same time Thaksin was in that country.

The Songkhla MP denied having asked Mr Bout to implicate Thaksin in arms trading. Mr Jatuporn was lying, he said.

Mr Bout’s lawyer could confirm this, Mr Sirichoke said.

Mr Jatuporn called for the government to allow Mr Bout to hold a press conference and to speak the truth.

He said Mr Bout had told Nitiphum Navawat, a popular columnist of Thai Rath newspaper who speaks Russian, that Mr Sirichoke had tried to get him to accuse Thaksin.

The information from Mr Nitiphum was highly reliable and corresponded with his own information, Mr Jatuporn said.

Mr Jatuporn said the opposition Puea Thai Party would check if Mr Sirichoke had violated the constitution and whether he was liable to impeachment.

Mr Bout, said to have inspired the Hollywood film “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage, has been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest in a Bangkok sting operation by US agents posing as Colombian rebels, members of a group declared to be a terrorist organisation by the US.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in the United States on charges including conspiracy to kill US nationals and to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organisation.

The Appeal Court on Friday approved the extradition of 43-year-old Bout, despite strong opposition from Russia.

News item courtesy of www.bangkokpost.com