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Thailand promises to press for Thaksin’s extradition

Authorities in Thailand will press for the extradition of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra no matter where he goes to live, officials said yesterday after the UK revoked the exiled leader’s visa.

Thaksin, toppled in a military coup in 2006, was last month sentenced in absentia to two years in jail for conflict of interest after helping his wife Pojaman buy state-owned land when he was premier.

The multi-millionaire’s whereabouts are currently a mystery.

Local media reported that he was in China while others said he was set to fly to the Philippines, which Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat — Thaksin’s brother-in-law — was scheduled to visit yesterday.

“No matter China or the Philippines, we have an extradition treaty with both countries,” said Sirisak Tiypan, director-general for international affairs of the Office of the Attorney General.

Thaksin has until the end of next week to appeal against his conviction but prosecutors are working on extradition documents, Sirisak said.

The reasons for the UK government’s decision to revoke the couple’s visas, which emerged on Saturday, remained unclear.

Sirisak said prosecutors first planned to send the request to the UK, but as London had canceled the visas of Thaksin and his wife, they would wait to find out exactly where they were.

“We planned to send it to Britain but [the plan] does not work now, he is not there,” he said.

Sirisak said that even if Thaksin decided to live in a country with which Thailand had no extradition treaty, authorities could ask for the country to hand him over on a reciprocal basis.

The Bahamas, Bermuda and several countries in Africa that are believed to lack extradition agreements with Thailand had reportedly offered to take in Thaksin and his wife.
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