Thursday, August 18 2005 13:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vancouver, (British Columbia): Now that his Thai arrest warrants have expired, an India-born man who allegedly masterminded an embezzlement scheme that rocked Asian financial markets are asking Canada to free him after years under house arrest.

Rakesh Saxena was charged in Thailand with looting US$73.5 million from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which partially precipitated the bank's 1995 collapse. Saxena has denied the charges.

He will appear before the British Columbia Court of Appeal on September 26, according to Department of Justice spokeswoman Lye Canton. Saxena has said that, if freed, he would apply for residency in Canada.

Saxena, who could not be reached for comment, told the Vancouver Sun in an interview published Saturday that Canada has held him illegally and that his case was a 'fraud.'

"I don't understand why the Canadian public is worried," he said.

"I have not committed a crime in Canada and I'm not costing them a cent."

The bank's 1995 collapse under US$3 billion debts, partly accumulated through unsecured loans made to politicians led to a loss of confidence in the Thai banking system, which helped trigger Asia's economic crisis a year later.

Saxena was a treasurer adviser for the bank when Thai authorities charged him in May 1996 with setting up phony loans to syphon millions from the bank. Thai police issued an arrest warrant for him in June 1996.

He was arrested in a Canadian ski resort, but a court allowed him to live under house arrest in a luxury waterfront condominium.

Saxena has claimed the bank's executives made him 'fall guy'.