Thailand’s ex-PM Thaksin jailed on return from exile

BANGKOK: Former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra returned to the kingdom on Tuesday after 15 years in exile and was immediately jailed. The Supreme Court ordered the 74-year-old billionaire to serve eight years on old graft charges, though it is not clear how much time he will serve behind bars, as his Pheu Thai party forms the government and rumours swirl of a deal for leniency.

Thaksin, loved and loathed in almost equal measure in Thailand, landed in a private jet at Bangkok´s Don Mueang airport on Tuesday morning, and was greeted by hundreds of noisy “Red Shirt” supporters waving banners and singing songs.

He emerged briefly to bow and offer a floral garland at a portrait of King Maha Vajiralongkorn as a mark of respect before waving to supporters.

More Red Shirts lined the streets as the former Manchester City owner was taken to the Supreme Court.

There he was ordered to serve eight years for three convictions passed in his absence -- one linked to his former Shin Corp company, another linked to a bank loan, and a lottery case.

Thaksin will spend his first days in prison in isolation because of health problems, but his family will be able to visit him after five days, the Department of Corrections said.

Asked about the possibility of a royal pardon, the deputy director of the Department of Corrections Sithi Suthiwong told reporters Thaksin could apply, and the process took “about one to two months, if the documents are sufficient”.

For all his long absence from the country, Thaksin remains Thailand´s most influential — and controversial — politician of modern times.

His career has included two election victories, defeat in a coup, criminal charges and the long years of self-imposed exile.

Loved by the rural poor for policies including cheap healthcare and the minimum wage, he is reviled by the pro-military and royalist elite who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and a threat to Thai social order.