Thailand

Ex-PM Thaksin gets two years for corruption

Article published on the 2008-10-21 Latest update 2008-10-23 08:08 TU

Supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) cerebrate and hold a banner at the Government House in Bangkok
(Photo: Reuters)

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was found guilty of conflict of interest on Tuesday and sentenced to two years in jail in absentia. Thaksin and his wife fled to Britain last August claiming they would not get a fair trial. The Supreme Court judgement concerned a 2003 cut-price land deal for his wife, Pojaman. She was cleared of all charges.

Prosecutors will seek the multi-millionaire's extradiction from Britain.

Thaksin, 59, as the Prime Minister, should not have authorised his wife to take part in bidding for the land in Bangkok, which was owned by a government agency.

"The defendant is a leader of government and should have acted with a good example to others, so the court decided not to suspend the sentence and decided to jail him two years," Supreme Court justice Tonglor Chomngarm told the courtroom.

Neither the land nor the warrant will be seized, however.

Hundreds of his supporters gathered outside the court. Thaksin was overthrown in a military coup in September 2006, amid claims of massive corruption and abuse of power.

"Prosecutors who initially took the case to the supreme court, they have said have said to start the extradition proceedings to get Thaksin back to Thailand" correspondent Charlotte McDonald-Gibson said from Bangkok.

She said that most analysts consider Thaksin's extradition by the UK "a reasonably rare prospect".