Bangkok - Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin
Shinawatra has decided not to appeal an abuse-of-power conviction
that carries a two-year jail sentence and has turned him in to a
divorced, wandering exile, his lawyer confirmed Tuesday.
On October 21, the Supreme Court for Political Office Holders
found Thaksin guilty of abusing his position as premier in 2003 by
allowing his wife Pojaman to successfully bid on a prime plot of
Bangkok land at a government office.
Thaksin was allowed 30 days to appeal the case, but would have
needed to present new evidence.
Khamnuan Chalopatham, Thaksin's lawyer, confirmed that the former
prime minister would not appeal the verdict, but he provided no
explanation for the decision, The Nation news website reported.
The verdict was made when Thaksin and his wife were living in
self-exile in London, where they had fled on August 11 after Pojaman
was sentenced to three years in prison by the Bangkok Criminal Court
for in a separate tax-evasion case.
Earlier this month, Britain revoked the couple's visas when the
couple were visiting China, citing the Supreme Court verdict as the
reason.
On Friday Thaksin revealed that he had divorced Pojaman in Hong
Kong, for 'legal reasons,' according to close friends.
Thaksin, a former policeman turned billionaire telecommunications
tycoon, was Thai prime minister between 2001 to 2006.
He was toppled by a military coup on September 19, 2006, on
charges of mass corruption, dividing the nation and undermining Thai
democracy and the monarchy.
Some 76 billion baht (2.3 billion dollars) of the family assets
have been frozen in Thai bank accounts and may be confiscated if the
courts find Thaksin 'unusually wealthy,' a legal phrase used to
describe political corruption in Thailand.
Thaksin, who made his personal fortune off government
telecommunication concessions, came to power in 2001 on a platform of
populist policies aimed at winning the vote of the urban and rural
poor.
He won the devotion of Thailand's much-neglected poor, and secured
an absolute majority in parliament during the 2005 general election.
Mounting complaints of corruption and abuse of power, topped by
Thaksin's decision to sell his family-owned Shin Corp to Singapore's
Temasek Holding in early 2006 - in a tax-free deal that reaped him 2
billion dollars - turned Thailand's middle class and political elite
against him, and ultimately led to his downfall.
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