ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has submitted a request for a royal pardon, the local media reported yesterday, citing outgoing Justice Minister Wissanu Kreangam.
The influential Thaksin, Thailand’s most famous politician, began serving an eight-year prison sentence after he returned last week in a vaunted homecoming from 15 years of self-imposed exile.
After landing in a private jet, he was transferred to prison to serve his sentence on charges of abuse of power and conflict of interest from his days in power.
Hours after his arrival, Srettha Thavisin of the Shinawatra family-backed Pheu Thai party sailed through a parliamentary vote to become prime minister, fuelling speculation that Thaksin had struck a deal with his former enemies among the country’s conservative and royalist military that ousted his governments in 2006 and 2014.
Thaksin and Pheu Thai have denied this.
During his first night in Thailand, he was moved to a police hospital because of chest pains and high blood pressure.
On Wednesday, his lawyer Winyat Chartmontri said the former premier was preparing a request for a royal pardon.
