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Ousted Thai PM 'free to return' | Ousted Thai PM 'free to return' |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is free to return to fight the seizure of his $1.6bn assets, his successor says. | Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is free to return to fight the seizure of his $1.6bn assets, his successor says. |
Interim PM Surayud Chulanont said he would personally guarantee Mr Thaksin's safety if he did return to Thailand. | Interim PM Surayud Chulanont said he would personally guarantee Mr Thaksin's safety if he did return to Thailand. |
Thailand's military ousted Mr Thaksin last year, accusing him of corruption. He has since been living in London. | |
On Monday, the government said it was freezing his accounts, the latest in a series of measures against him. | |
"He is eligible to return to account for his assets," Mr Surayud told reporters. "He has 60 days in which to do so." | "He is eligible to return to account for his assets," Mr Surayud told reporters. "He has 60 days in which to do so." |
Military leaders had previously said he would be unwelcome until after a general election set for December. | |
'Have to fight' | |
On Monday, the committee set up to examine corruption claims against Mr Thaksin said it had concluded that he had "committed wrongdoings". | |
It issued two orders freezing his assets, including 21 accounts holding money made from the controversial sale in January 2006 of Shin Corp, his telecoms giant, to a Singaporean firm. | |
The sale sparked days of street protests in Bangkok and was a key factor in the political unrest that preceded the military coup. | |
Mr Thaksin's lawyer, Noppadol Pattama, said that the committee's decision had pushed the billionaire into a corner. | |
"We can no longer retreat, so we have to fight," he told journalists. "He has been unfairly treated, so he will return to Thailand sooner than his original plan." | |
He said Mr Thaksin would decide when to return in the next few days. | |
The former prime minister is reported to be involved in a bid to buy English Premier League club Manchester City and it is not clear what effect the asset freeze would have on this. | |
Since the coup in September 2006, Thailand's military rulers have taken measures to curtail Mr Thaksin's influence. | |
Last month, he was banned from political office for five years and his popular Thai Rak Thai party ordered dissolved after a tribunal found it guilty of violating electoral laws. | |
But the move has sparked demonstrations from his supporters, with a number of protests in the capital, Bangkok. |