Thaksin back in Thailand ahead of court verdict
Thaksin could be imprisoned if judges decide that the six months he spent in hospital in 2023 instead of jail does not count as time served
Thailand’s influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived back in the country on Monday, his political party said, a day before a Supreme Court verdict that could potentially send the tycoon to prison.
Thaksin left Thailand unannounced on Thursday, prompting frenzied speculation he had fled into exile to avoid possible jail amid a scramble for power. On Friday, the government led by the Pheu Thai party he backs fell after it lost a vote in parliament to a rival party.
“He has already arrived,” Pheu Thai official Chayika Wongnapachant said in a text message to Reuters.
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Populist conservative Anutin Charnvirakul becomes Thailand’s 3rd PM in 2 years
While Thaksin was in Dubai on Friday, where he spent the bulk of his 15 years in self-imposed exile to avoid jail, the Bhumjaithai party’s Anutin Charnvirakul was elected Thailand’s new prime minister after trouncing the candidate of the once dominant Pheu Thai in a parliamentary vote.
Billionaire Thaksin, who has loomed large over Thai politics for a quarter of a century, could be imprisoned if judges decide that the six months he spent at a VIP wing of a hospital in 2023 instead of jail does not count as time served.
He was in jail for only a few hours before being transferred to the hospital on medical grounds following his return to serve an eight-year sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power while prime minister from 2001 to 2006.
Thaksin’s sentence was commuted to a year by the king and he was released on parole in February 2024 after six months of being detained in hospital. He has since maintained a high profile as the driving force behind Pheu Thai and the former government.