Thai Court Orders Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra To Serve One Year In Prison

Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra must serve one year in jail to complete a prison sentence handed down in 2023 over corruption and abuse of power charges.

The court found that the former prime minister’s stay in a police hospital for a purported severe illness was unlawful and can’t be counted as a fulfillment of the earlier prison sentence.

Thaksin, 76, was taken by prison officials to Bangkok Remand Prison following the court’s order. Last month, he was acquitted in a separate case of breaching the country’s strict royal defamation laws.

The ruling, which is final and can’t be appealed, came after the Constitutional Court last month dismissed his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra from the top post for ethical violation after just one year in office. Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul has since been elected as the country’s new Prime Minister.

Thaksin departed Thailand for a medical checkup in Dubai late Thursday just before the parliament convened on Friday to pick a new Prime Minister to replace Paetongtarn. He returned Monday, just in time to face the court verdict.

The youngest daughter of Thaksin is the third member of the Shinawatra family to be booted out before finishing a term. Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck, was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2014 after three years in office on charges of abuse of power.

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Thaksin—among the wealthiest in Thailand with a net worth of $2.1 billion—was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and spent most of his time in Dubai during more than a decade in self-exile. Upon his return in 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison but received a royal pardon that reduced his jail term to one year. He then spent six months in a hospital before being released on parole.