POLICE officers in Thailand vowed to greet former PM Thaksin Shinawatra with arrest warrants on his expected return to the country next month after living in self-imposed exile for 15 years.
The family of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been removed from power due to a military coup in 2006, admitted they are both happy and worried about the outcome of his scheduled return to Thailand on August 10.
The populist billionaire is set to arrive at Don Mueang Airport on August 10, which her daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced during his father’s 74th birthday this week.
Thaksin Shinawatra who remains popular among rural voters was sentenced to 12 years in jail on four different charges, including for corruption and tax evasion.
The former Prime Minister has lived overseas since fleeing the country in 2008 to avoid corruption charges, shifting residencies between Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and London.
His daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is one of the Pheu Thai Party’s three prime ministerial candidates.
Thailand’s Corrections Department chief promised to treat the fugitive former prime minister as an elderly prisoner and to grant him whatever medical treatment he may need if he is imprisoned.
