Thailand’s Supreme Court found ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of conflict of interest yesterday in connection with a land deal for his wife and sentenced him in absentia to two years in prison.
The nine judges ruled by five to four that Thaksin, who has been at the heart of Thailand’s political crisis over the past three years and now lives in exile in Britain, had been involved in his wife’s purchase of land from a central bank fund.
“The defendant is guilty of violating the anti-corruption law, and the punishment is two years in prison,” a judge said, reading out the verdict.
PHOTO: EPA
Thaksin was, however, cleared of more serious charges of abusing his powers to obtain the cut-price deal.
The nine-member court ruled by five to four that Thaksin had got involved in his wife’s purchase of land from a central bank fund.
“Thaksin had violated the article of the Constitution on conflict of interest, as he was then prime minister and head of government who was supposed to work for the benefit of the public,” a judge said, reading the verdict. “He is sentenced to two years in jail.”
Thaksin’s wife Pojaman was cleared of all charges, and the court said they would not seize the land or money connected to the 2003 deal.
Neither of the pair were in court to hear the verdicts, having fled Thailand for Britain in August claiming they would not get a fair trial on the graft charges mounting against them.
Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon who became the first Thai prime minister to complete his first term and be re-elected, was ousted in a military coup in September 2006.
The junta claimed there was massive corruption and abuse of power under his rule and set up a corruption investigation unit, which has stacked the charges up against Thaksin and his family.
Thaksin, speaking by telephone, said the case was politically motivated. He has said before that he could not expect a fair trial from Thai courts.
“I have been informed of the result. I had long anticipated that it would turn out this way,” he said.
He denied British media reports he was seeking asylum in Britain. A Thai prosecutor said he would urge Britain to extradite Thaksin now that the court had sentenced him to prison.
The ruling is the first on a spate of corruption charges against Thaksin and his political associates prepared by graft investigators appointed after a military coup in 2006.
It will do little to lower the political temperature in Thailand, where Thaksin still commands wide support outside the capital, and will be seen as a further blow to the government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who is his brother-in-law.
An elected government came to power this year but the main party in the coalition, the People Power Party, is seen by opponents as a mere proxy for Thaksin.
The extra-parliamentary People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has been waging a street campaign since May to force the government out and has occupied the prime minister’s official compound since August.
Two people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between PAD supporters and the police on Oct. 7.
The court area was plastered with signs warning Thaksin supporters and opponents they would be in contempt of court if they caused any disturbance.
About 300 government supporters were seen around the court, which was guarded by 100 uniformed police officers, a third of the number the police had earlier planned to deploy.
The PAD opted not to go ahead with a plan to march to the court.
“We are staying where we are. We don’t want to create any trouble,” PAD spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said.
The political crisis dates back to 2005 when the PAD launched street protests against Thaksin, alleging corruption and abuse of power. It has meandered through a coup to elections and back to protests and shows no sign of resolution.
The army removed Thaksin from power because of allegations of rampant corruption during his five years in power. Nearly US$2 billion of his family’s assets have been frozen in Thai bank accounts.
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency and the Pentagon on Monday said that some North Korean troops have been killed during combat against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region. Those are the first reported casualties since the US and Ukraine announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost three-year war. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that about 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded during a battle with the Ukrainian army at the weekend. The casualties occurred around three villages in Kursk, where Russia has for four months been trying to quash a
FREEDOM NO MORE: Today, protests in Macau are just a memory after Beijing launched measures over the past few years that chilled free speech A decade ago, the elegant cobblestone streets of Macau’s Tap Seac Square were jam-packed with people clamouring for change and government accountability — the high-water mark for the former Portuguese colony’s political awakening. Now as Macau prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to China tomorrow, the territory’s democracy movement is all but over and the protests of 2014 no more than a memory. “Macau’s civil society is relatively docile and obedient, that’s the truth,” said Au Kam-san (歐錦新), 67, a schoolteacher who became one of Macau’s longest-serving pro-democracy legislators. “But if that were totally true, we wouldn’t
ROYAL TARGET: After Prince Andrew lost much of his income due to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, he became vulnerable to foreign agents, an author said British lawmakers failed to act on advice to tighten security laws that could have prevented an alleged Chinese spy from targeting Britain’s Prince Andrew, a former attorney general has said. Dominic Grieve, a former lawmaker who chaired the British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) until 2019, said ministers were advised five years ago to introduce laws to criminalize foreign agents, but failed to do so. Similar laws exist in the US and Australia. “We remain without an important weapon in our armory,” Grieve said. “We asked for [this law] in the context of the Russia inquiry report” — which accused the government
RSS