Thailand’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra must serve one year in jail because his detention in the VIP wing of a hospital in lieu of prison was unlawful, in another major blow for a powerful family that has dominated Thai politics for two decades.
The court would take the 76-year-old into custody, a reporter who attended the verdict said.
On return from 15 years of self-imposed exile in 2023, Thaksin spent only a few hours in prison before being transferred to hospital complaining of heart trouble and chest pains, prompting widespread scepticism and public outrage.
His eight-year sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power was commuted to one year by the king and Thaksin was released on parole after just six months, the entirety of which he had spent in the VIP wing of a hospital.
The five-judge bench said on Tuesday that the responsibility for Thaksin’s lengthy stay in hospital did not solely lie with the doctors and that the polarising billionaire intentionally prolonged his hospital stay.
Power-broker Thaksin is experiencing a period of political reckoning after his daughter and protégé Paetongtarn Shinawatra was sacked as prime minister by a court 11 days ago – the sixth leader from or backed by the Shinawatra family to be removed by the judiciary or military.
