Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin has requested a royal pardon

According to interim justice minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, Thaksin’s family made the request, according to local media.

According to the departing justice minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire former prime minister of Thailand, has submitted a plea for a royal pardon.

After 15 years of self-imposed exile, Thailand’s most well-known politician, Thaksin, returned this week to begin an eight-year prison sentence for abuse of authority and conflicts of interest.

When contacted by Reuters for confirmation on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the 74-year-old Thaksin declined to comment. On Wednesday, his attorney claimed Thaksin had been working on the request alone.

Thaksin has requested a pardon for the eight years in prison he is currently serving on convictions of corruption and abuse of power, a senior adviser to acting justice minister Wissanu Krea-ngam told AFP. According to Wissanu, the pardon request was made by Thaksin’s family, according to local media reports.

In a dramatic homecoming last week, the former telecoms billionaire arrived in Thailand on a private jet and greeted fans before being taken to a prison. He was taken to a police hospital on his first night in jail as a result of officials reporting cardiac discomfort and excessive blood pressure.

The justice minister must receive a request for a royal pardon through the prisons division. Following the prime minister’s consideration, King Maha Vajiralongkorn must receive it.

Last week, Srettha Thavisin, a political friend and fellow business billionaire, won a legislative vote to become prime minister on the same day that Thaksin returned to power. Pro-military parties supported Thavisin’s Pheu Thai Party, which the Shinawatra family established.

The circumstances fueled rumours that Thaksin had made a pact with his sworn enemies in the conservative establishment and royalist military, who ousted him in a coup in 2006 and accused him of corruption and betraying the mighty monarchy.

Both of those accusations and rumours of a compromise with the generals have been refuted by Thaksin.

INFORMATION: NEWS AGENCIES