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Thaksin fights bid to seize $2.2b assets

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-17 09:47

BANGKOK: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Thursday challenged a move to seize 76 billion baht ($2.2 billion) of his family's assets, which the government claims were gained through abuse of power.

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The former telecoms tycoon, whose assets have been frozen since he was ousted as premier in a 2006 military coup, says the government's case is politically motivated and groundless.

"The junta launched many corruption charges against me to justify their actions," Thaksin said in a hand-written statement submitted to the Supreme Court, which opened the case Thursday.

"They also appointed my opponents to investigate me. How can I get a fair trial?"

Thaksin, sentenced in absentia in October to two years in prison for graft and now in self-imposed exile, has used money from offshore accounts to fund his globe-trotting life.

His Thai passport has been revoked and he travels on passports provided by countries he has offered to invest in, among them Nicaragua.

The frozen assets come from the $1.9 billion tax-free sale of telecommunications conglomerate Shin Corporation in 2006 to Singapore state company Temasek, which sparked protests that led to his overthrow in the bloodless putsch.

Thaksin's lawyers say he will argue that he and his wife, from whom he is now divorced, sold all the shares they owned in the company to their children in 2000. They subsequently sold through the market, and such a deal was tax-free in Thailand.

The court heard testimony from two witnesses, the first of 90 Thaksin has listed for his case. The trial is expected to be completed by Nov 19.

Despite his exile, Thaksin has remained a force in Thai politics and has sought to undermine the Democrat-led government by backing the "red shirt" protest movement and the opposition Puea Thai party.

The protests and parliamentary challenges have been a huge distraction for Abhisit Vejjajiva's government as it struggles to revive an export-driven economy crippled by the global financial crisis.

Reuters