Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra must serve a one-year prison term for prior convictions on corruption and abuse of power charges. The decision follows a judicial inquiry into whether corrections officials mishandled his return to the country in 2023.
Thaksin was convicted in absentia in three corruption cases between 2008 and 2013, including abuse of power in a lottery scheme and conflict of interest in a bank loan arrangement. Together, the convictions carried an eight-year sentence. In August 2023, soon after his return from 15 years in self-imposed exile, King Maha Vajiralongkorn granted him a royal pardon reducing his sentence to one year.
Upon arrival, Thaksin, 74, was taken into custody but transferred within hours to a pol