The Thai government will not pay a 20-million-euro bond to secure the release of a Boeing 737, impounded last week in Germany, which belongs to Thailand's crown prince, the foreign minister said Thursday, according to dpa. A German court ruled Wednesday that Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn could recover his Boeing 737 in return for a deposit of 20 million euros (28.5 million dollars). On his return from Germany, where he had attended the court hearing in Landshut near Munich, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said the government would not pay the bond, but would continue to fight the case in German courts. "The Landshut court said they were satisfied that the plane belonged to the prince but they could not release it until there was a formal hearing of the case," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thingphaksi said. Thailand expects the formal hearing to take place some time in the first half of August, he said. The decision handed down by the court in Landshut followed a statutory declaration from the director of civil aviation in Thailand that the aircraft belonged to the crown prince and not the Thai state. The court ordered the plane's seizure last week in a row between Walter Bau AG, an insolvent building company, and the Thai government. "We want to reiterate that this is an issue between Walter Bau and the Thai government and has nothing to do with the crown prince," Thani said. Walter Bau said the jet was Thai state property, and therefore a legitimate target for their attempts to recover outstanding dues. In the 1990s, Walter Bau was part of a joint venture to construct a toll road near Bangkok. But the company and the Thai government fell out over the toll fees to be levied. As a result of this, Walter Bau claimed the contractual obligations were not being met. After years of negotiations, an international tribunal in Geneva awarded Walter Bau about 30 million euros in compensation, a payment the Thai government rejected.
