Thaksin faces arrest if he returns

BANGKOK (AFP) - Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra would face arrest on corruption and fraud charges if he returned to Thailand, a senior official at the Attorney General’s office said Thursday.
“If they were in Thailand, police can arrest him and his wife because both are still wanted on Thai arrest warrants,” Samphan Sarathana, chief of international affairs for the Attorney General, told AFP.
Thaksin told reporters in Hong Kong on Tuesday that he planned to return home by April, after his allies in the People Power Party (PPP) claimed victory in elections on Sunday, the first since a coup in September 2006.
But the self-made billionaire, who has been living in exile, and his wife Pojaman are on an immigration blacklist, meaning that they can be immediately arrested if they try to enter Thailand.
Samphan’s agency has been pushing for the couple’s extradition from Britain, where Thaksin owns a home and purchased Manchester City football club.
The Supreme Court issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and Pojaman in August over separate graft charges linked to a real estate deal in 2003. In September a Thai criminal court issued another arrest warrant against the former first couple over charges tied to alleged fraudulent filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2003.
Thaksin and his wife deny any wrongdoing and say the charges are politically motivated.
PPP won 233 of the 480 seats in the Thai parliament in Sunday’s vote. It is trying to cobble together a coalition government.