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Asylum for Thaksin?


Flashermac

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Former Thai leader seeks asylum in UK

7:00PM Monday August 11, 2008

Thaksin Shinawatra

 

 

BANGKOK, Thailand - Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has come up with the perfect solution to avoiding big trouble at home - he's not going home.

 

The deposed politician and his family have fled to the United Kingdom, the former leader said today, as he and his wife skipped a hearing on corruption charges in a Thai court.

 

A handwritten statement from Thaksin said he fled because he could not expect justice in Thai courts. It came amid newspaper reports that he would seek asylum in Britain.

 

"My wife and I have traveled to reside in England," Thaksin said in the statement. "If I still have luck, I would come back and die on Thai soil like every other Thai person.

 

Thaksin's statement, which did not mention asking for asylum, was read this afternoon on state-run television.

 

"What happened to my family and me is like fruit from a poisonous tree - the fruit will also be poisoned," the statement said. "There is a continuation of dictatorship in managing Thai politics ... which is followed by interference in the justice system."

 

Thaksin and his wife Pojaman failed to appear Monday morning before the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions in a case involving an allegedly unlawful purchase of real estate.

 

The couple left Thailand last week after the court gave them permission to attend the Olympic Games in Beijing but ordered them to report Monday. News reports in Bangkok said Thaksin and Pojaman flew from China to England, where the former leader owns several properties and the Manchester City football club.

 

Thaksin lived in exile in Britain after he was ousted in a 2006 military coup. He returned to Thailand earlier this year to face corruption charges against him after his political allies won new elections and formed a coalition government.

 

- AP

 

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<< A handwritten statement from Thaksin said he fled because he could not expect justice in Thai courts. >>

 

 

That was obvious the first time he was tried right after his election, when he had spread his millions around in bank accounts under his servants' names - and paid enough judges to find him not guilty.

 

:)

 

 

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No justice?

1. Caught fiddling his taxes

2. Sold government land to wife when PM (not allowed under any constitution)

3. Made vast unsecured loans to company he owned to provide Burma with telecoms.

On those three counts alone he must be found guilty.

There is an old East End (London saying): if you can not do the time do not do the crime!

Maybe somebody should mutter it in his ear sometime.

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The Nation

11-08-2008

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Supreme Court issues arrest warrants against Thaksin, wife

 

 

 

The Supreme Court Monday issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife, Khunying Pojaman.

 

The Supreme Court issued the warrants after the couple fled to England instead of returning to Thailand to attend a court hearing in the Ratchadapisek land purchase case.

 

The Supreme Court's Criminal Tribunal for Holders of Political Positions said the couple broke their promise to return to the country to attend the trial so the courts issued arrest warrants against them.

 

The Nation

 

 

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