"Nothing has happened yet, but in terms of intelligence, we already have security safeguards in place. Intelligence agents are closely monitoring" for any possible espionage, he told reporters.

"We have to watch anything that could affect national security," he said.

Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek led a takeover of Shin Corp on Monday, in a $1.9-billion deal to buy the nearly 50 percent stake in the company held by Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family.

The deal included Shin Satellite Public Co, which operates three telecom satellites that cover much of Asia and Australia, providing telephone, Internet, television and other services.

Meanwhile, Bangkok University released a survey that found a majority of people in the Thai capital questioned Thaksin's family's motives in selling the company that the premier founded.

Nearly 91 percent said it was wrong for a foreign company to own such a large stake in a Thai telecom, while some 81 percent said the sale would not free Thaksin from allegations of conflict of interest between his policies and his business dealings.

Some 85 percent of the 1368 people questioned said they did not believe Thaksin when he said the sale was aimed at ending the conflict of interest accusations.

A majority of people, 63 percent, said Thaksin's government changed laws governing foreign ownership of telecoms so that his family could profit.

The sale was completed the same day that a new law took effect, raising the cap on foreign ownership in telecoms from 25 percent to 49 percent.

The survey had a margin of error of three percentage points, and was conducted in face-to-face interviews on Wednesday in Bangkok.

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