Thaksin Shinawatra leaves Thailand forward of a dangerous court docket ruling

[ad_1] BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a sudden and shocking departure from the nation Thursday, simply 5 days earlier than a court docket ruling that might open him as much as a brand new jail sentence.

His exit got here per week after the Constitutional Court docket eliminated his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, from her place as prime minister. The court docket discovered her responsible of an ethics violation for a politically compromising cellphone name with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen.

Parliament was set to vote Friday on a brand new prime minister to succeed Paetongtarn and set up a brand new authorities. Many see this as the top of the ability that Thaksin’s political machine has wielded for greater than twenty years. Throughout that point, Thaksin confronted jail time in numerous instances, although he spent no time behind bars.

Thaksin instructed Thai immigration authorities at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport that his non-public jet was headed for Singapore. A police assertion confirmed his aircraft was allowed to take off shortly after 7 p.m. as a result of he had no arrest warrant or court docket order stopping him from leaving the nation.

Nevertheless, flight-tracking information analyzed by The Related Press confirmed the non-public jet, a Bombardier BD-700, initially flew south towards Singapore earlier than instantly turning west, doing two circles and persevering with towards India.

Thaksin later posted on X that he had meant to journey to Singapore for a medical checkup however that Thai immigration delayed him for practically two hours. He mentioned his pilot knowledgeable him throughout their flight that they wouldn’t be capable to land at Seletar Airport, which serves small plane, earlier than its scheduled closing time at 10 p.m. So Thaksin mentioned he determined to vary course to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a substitute.

Thaksin lived in Dubai throughout his self-imposed exile beginning in 2008. He wrote in his social media put up that he had common physicians there.

His Thursday journey prompted widespread hypothesis that he may flee a doable jail time period once more. Nevertheless, Thaksin wrote that he meant to return to Thailand to look in court docket on Tuesday in particular person.

Thaksin was prime minister from 2001 till a army coup ousted him in 2006 whereas he was overseas. He briefly returned to Thailand in 2008 however left once more, skipping bail forward of a court docket verdict on a corruption case.

He had been ousted amid accusations of corruption, abuse of energy, and disrespect for Thailand’s monarchy. He returned to his homeland in 2023 to start an eight-year sentence for 3 instances involving graft and abuse of energy.

He was despatched to a collection at Bangkok’s Police General Hospital instead of a prison , reportedly for medical causes. His sentence was commuted to at least one yr by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and he was launched on parole after six months.

The circumstances of his detention raised questions on whether or not he obtained special treatment . The Supreme Court docket’s ruling on Tuesday will decide if the Corrections Division acted legally in its dealing with of his case.

The mandate for the court docket’s investigation is broad, and it's unclear if Thaksin may very well be chargeable for the Corrections Division’s actions, although if he was discovered to be complicit of their wrongdoing, he may face fees that might lead to a brand new jail sentence.

After leaving workplace, Thaksin confronted a barrage of lawsuits and felony fees he claimed have been politically motivated. Final month, a felony court docket acquitted him of royal defamation , an offense often known as lèse-majesté, which may have resulted in a 15-year jail sentence.

Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, one other ousted former prime minister, lives in Dubai after fleeing Thailand in 2017 forward of a verdict on a dereliction of obligation cost, for which she was later convicted in absentia.

Dubai is the biggest metropolis within the United Arab Emirates and residential to the world’s tallest constructing and a luxurious nightlife scene It has attracted different leaders dealing with political or authorized challenges again dwelling such because the late Pakistani Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized management of his nation in a 1999 coup and later sided with the U.S. in its conflict in Afghanistan.

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Related Press journalists Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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