Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has lived in self-imposed exile overseas since 2008, can expect at least 10 years behind bars if makes good on his pledge to return to Thailand to serve his jail terms.
Thaksin faced eight criminal cases stemming from his tenure as prime minister between February 2001 and September 2006.
During his absence from the country, Thai courts sentenced him to a total of 12 years imprisonment in four cases, but the statute of limitations has since expired on a two-year jail term handed down in October 2008. He was acquitted in two other cases while the remaining two cases are still under investigation.
In a March 24 interview with Kyodo News, Thaksin announced he was ready to return and serve his prison time in Thailand regardless of the result of the May 14 general election. The ex-premier also insisted that he would not seek an amnesty from Parliament even if his proxy Pheu Thai Party takes power after the national vote.
Accused of power abuse
Thaksin was accused of power abuse and corruption while serving as prime minister. Protesters took to the streets in January 2006 after his family sold their majority share in the telecom giant Shin Corp to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings for around 73 billion baht and paid no tax on the sale.
A military coup was staged in September 2006 to overthrow Thaksin’s elected government. The coup-makers cited corruption, abuse of power, and ethical violations by the prime minister as reasons for the power seizure.
The post-coup junta set up the Assets Examination Committee to investigate suspicions of ill-gotten wealth of Thaksin and his Cabinet members. Findings by the 12-member panel led to a number of criminal cases against the ex-leader and his former colleagues.
In February 2008, Thaksin arrived back in Thailand for the first time since the coup. His return came after his proxy People Power Party won the general election in December 2007 and formed a coalition government.
However, just months after his return, Thaksin and his then-wife Khunying Potjaman left Thailand again, supposedly to attend the 2008 BeijingOlympics.
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12 years for four criminal cases
He was still abroad soon after when the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions pronounced him guilty of power abuse in his wife’s purchase of a state-owned plot in the coveted Ratchadaphisek area at a price much cheaper than market value.
In October 2008, Thaksin was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison. The 10-year statute of limitations for that court verdict expired in October 2018.
The court later gave Thaksin another two years in prison after finding him guilty of malfeasance in the two-and three-digit lottery case.
He was handed a further three years’ imprisonment for abusing his position to authorize loans totaling 4 billion baht to Myanmar via the Export-Import Bank of Thailand.
The loans were then spent on buying supplies from a telecom firm owned by Thaksin’s family.
Thaksin was sentenced to five more years in prison in another case in which he was found guilty of using nominees to hold shares in Shin Corp. The law prohibits any political office holder from holding shares in a telecom company.
Acquitted in two cases
The court acquitted Thaksin in two of the cases brought against him. In 2019, it dismissed charges of dereliction of duty and malfeasance in the Finance Ministry’s administration of a rehabilitation plan by the private firm Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI).
In the same year, Thaksin was also acquitted of masterminding loans of 9 billion baht granted by the state-owned Krungthai Bank to subsidiaries of property firm Krisda Mahanakorn. The court found no convincing evidence to prove accusations that Thaksin was the “big boss” who ordered bank executives to approve the loans.
The money was meant for refinancing and land acquisition for real estate development, but it was instead used for share trading on the stock market and was laundered to conceal its source, according to public prosecutors.
In 2015, Krungthai’s former executive board chairman Suchai Jaovisidha and former bank president Viroj Nuankae were among more than a dozen defendants sentenced to prison terms in connection with the loan scandal.
Two cases under NACC investigation
There are also two pending cases against Thaksin being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
In one, he is accused of masterminding fake government-to-government deals involving the rice-pledging scheme of the government led by his sister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Thaksin is also accused of malfeasance in Thai Airways’ purchase of 79 aircraft while he was in power that was later blamed for the national carrier’s massive debts and financial troubles.
By Thai PBS World’s Political Desk
