8-year jail term for Thaksin
published : 22 Aug 2023 at 15:06
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Wassayos Ngamkham
Thaksin Shinawatra has begun serving his eight-year prison sentence on Tuesday morning following his return to the country after 15 years abroad.
The Corrections Department confirmed that the 74-year-old former prime minister had arrived at Bangkok Remand Prison and been admitted to its hospital unit in light of his old age and underlying illnesses.
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions earlier ordered Thaksin jailed for eight years — three years concurrently in the first two cases, and five years in the third case.
Thaksin was brought from Don Mueang airport to the Supreme Court shortly after 10am. Many Red Shirt supporters lined the streets near Sanam Luang as he was taken into the court building.
Inside, immigration police told the court that Thaksin was a convict in three finalised cases and had been wanted on arrest warrants.
In one case, Thaksin had been sentenced in absentia to three years in prison for having conflict of interest in the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (Exim) loan case. The case involved the lending of 4 billion baht to the government of Myanmar in 2004. The court said Thaksin had ordered the state-run bank to lend 4 billion baht at a below-cost interest rate to Myanmar so that it could buy products from Shin Satellite Plc, a company owned by his family.
In another case, the court sentenced him to two years in jail for illegally launching a two- and three-digit lottery between 2003 and 2006. He was found guilty of breaching the Criminal Code by abusing his power as the scheme was not supported by any legislation.
The court said on Tuesday that the jail terms in these two cases would start simultaneously in the next three years.
In the other case, the court earlier sentenced Thaksin to five years in jail for malfeasance in connection with the handling of telephone concessionaires and conflict of interest from 2001 and 2006 during his two terms as prime minister.
He was charged with violating the Organic Act on Counter Corruption by holding shares in Shin Corp through proxies.
Learn from listening
Vocabulary
- abuse: the use of something in a bad, dishonest, or harmful way - การใช้ในทางที่ผิด
- concessionaire: a person or company that has the legal right given by a business or government to sell things - ผู้ได้รับสัมปทาน
- concurrently (adv): at the same time - พร้อมกัน, ควบคู่กัน
- conflict of interest: a situation in which someone cannot make a fair decision because they will be affected by the results - ผลประโยชน์ทับซ้อน
- convict: someone who is or has been in prison because they have committed a crime - นักโทษ, ผู้ที่ถูกตัดสินว่ามีความผิด
- Corrections Department: the government department in charge of running prisons - กรมราชทัณฑ์
- in absentia: while not present at the event being referred to - ไม่อยู่, ไม่ปรากฏตัว
- legislation: a law or set of laws suggested by a government and made official by a parliament - กฎหมาย, การออกกฎหมาย
- lend (verb): (past form: lent) to give money to someone who agrees to pay it back in the future - ให้ยืม
- lottery: a way of raising money for a government, charity, etc. by selling tickets that have different numbers on them that people have chosen. Numbers are then chosen by chance and the people who have those numbers on their tickets win prizes - สลากกินแบ่ง, ล็อตเตอรี่
- malfeasance: illegal actions, especially by a person in authority - การใช้อำนาจไปในทางที่ผิด
- proxy: a person or company who acts for another person or company - ตัวแทน
- simultaneously: happening at the same time - ในเวลาเดียวกัน,ที่พร้อมกัน
- supreme court: the highest court in a country - ศาลฎีกา, ศาลสูงสุด
- Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office-Holders (noun): a trial court in a case where the Prime Minister, a minister, member of the House of Representatives, senator or other political official is accused of becoming unusually wealthy, committing crimes with in office, performing duties dishonestly, or being corrupted according to other laws. - ศาลฎีกา แผนกคดีอาญาของผู้ดำรงตำแหน่งทางการเมือง
- warrant (noun): a legal document that is signed by a judge and gives the police authority to do something - หมาย
