Thailand’s ex-PM to serve 8 years in jail. The Supreme Court announced that former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who returned from self-exile on Tuesday, will spend a total of eight years in prison.
Three distinct cases of abuse of power and misbehavior, illegally ordering a state-run bank to issue a foreign loan, and illegally holding shares through nominees are each subject to the jail sentence. Earlier on Tuesday, Thaksin brought before the Supreme Court.
Two years after overthrown by the military on the grounds of corruption and disloyalty to the monarchy—charges he has vehemently denied—Thaksin fled the country in 2008 to avoid serving time in prison for abuse of power.
He detained, taken right away to the Supreme Court for a hearing, and then transferred to a prison, according to the police.
When Thaksin arrived, the lower house and the Senate appointed by the military meeting to vote on Srettha Thavisin, a real estate magnate who recently pushed into politics by Pheu Thai.
“Congratulations to the Shinawatra family and former PM Thaksin. Returning to your place of birth with your family, there no greater happiness,” Srettha posted on social media platform X, previously Twitter.
Since March, Thailand run by a caretaker government, and its new parliament impasse for weeks as a result of conservative lawmakers blocking Move Forward, the anti-establishment election winners, leaving powerhouse Pheu Thai to spearhead a fresh initiative.
Pheu Thai, a political powerhouse founded by the wealthy Shinawatra family and winner of five elections in the past 20 years, has formed a contentious alliance with two other parties. The military supported these parties, which overthrew governments led by Thaksin and his sister Yingluck in coups in 2006 and 2014.
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On Monday, Srettha, 60, claimed that Pheu Thai’s only chance of governing through a coalition with some rivals it previously vowed not to cooperate with because the party had not achieved the outright majority it sought in the May election.
Srettha, who has the support of 317 lawmakers and needs 58 votes from the Senate to secure the necessary backing of half the legislature, stated: “We are not lying to the people, but we have to be realistic.”