Bangkok: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday was transported to prison soon after his return to the country after more than 15 years of self-exile as the Supreme Court issued an 8-year detention order for him.
The court’s criminal division for holders of political positions announced that Thaksin has been convicted of an eight-year imprisonment related to his three convictions passed on the 74-year-old in absentia, reports Xinhua news agency.
The convictions include a two-year sentence for corruption in a lottery project, a three-year sentence for his involvement in an Export-Import Bank loan for Myanmar case, and a five-year sentence for his role in a mobile phone concession amendment case, according to reports.
The former telecom tycoon boarded a private plane in Singapore and landed at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport shortly after 9 a.m..
He paid respect to the portrait of the king and queen and then was escorted in a police convoy to the court and taken to the prison.
Thaksin was Thailand’s premier from 2001 to 2006 but had been in self-exile abroad since 2008.
Thaksin’s long-awaited arrival comes on the same day as a vote in Parliament to choose a new Prime Minister, which will finally break a political deadlock more than three months after the popular Move Forward Party won the general elections, CNN reported.
The Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party, which came second in the May election, will on Tuesday nominate real estate mogul Srettha Thavisin as the next Prime Minister.
On Monday, Pheu Thai struck a deal with its former military rivals in a bid to secure enough parliamentary votes to form a government.
In 2014, former army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha seized power from the Pheu Thai government, and Yingluck followed Thaksin into self-imposed exile.
Prayut has ruled Thailand since, announcing in July that he would not seek re-election and will retire from politics.
Thailand’s parliament is due to vote later on Tuesday for a new prime minister as the Pheu Thai Party, which links to Thaksin, leads an effort to form the new government with former property businessman Srettha Thavisin as the prime minister candidate.
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