Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, will be imprisoned
After more than 15 years in self-imposed exile, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has returned to Thailand and was promptly taken to prison following an 8-year detention order issued by the Supreme Court. The court’s criminal division for political officeholders revealed that he had been sentenced to eight years in prison due to his three convictions, all of which were handed down in absentia.
These convictions include a two-year term for corruption related to a lottery project, a three-year sentence for his involvement in a loan from the Export-Import Bank for Myanmar, and a five-year sentence for his role in amending a mobile phone concession agreement.
Thaksin, formerly a telecommunications magnate, arrived in Bangkok on a private plane from Singapore, landing at Don Mueang International Airport just after 9 a.m. He paid his respects to the king and queen’s portraits before being escorted by a police convoy to the court and subsequently to prison.
Thaksin served as Thailand’s prime minister from 2001 to 2006 but had been living in self-exile abroad since 2008.
Interestingly, Thaksin’s return coincided with a parliamentary vote to select a new Prime Minister, which aims to resolve a political deadlock that persisted for over three months following the general elections won by the popular Move Forward Party. Thaksin’s supported party, Pheu Thai, which came in second in the May elections, nominated real estate mogul Srettha Thavisin as the next Prime Minister on the same day.
