THAILAND’S supreme court seized $1.4bn (£910m) of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin’s assets which it decreed were gained illegally through conflict of interest while he was in office.
The funds were frozen after Mr. Thaksin’s elected government was overthrown in a military coup d’état in 2006. The judges said that Mr Thaksin shaped government mobile phone and satellite communications policy to benefit his firms.
And that he abused his power to benefit his telecoms company Shin Corp, earning wealth from shares sales in the company through inappropriate means.
The sale of Shin Corp to Singapore state investment firm Temasek in January 2006 was one of the main catalysts for prevalent protests calling for Mr Thaksin to resign, and the government applied for the capture of the proceeds from the sale.
The court dismissed defence arguments that the anti-corruption commission that initiated the proceedings against Mr. Thaksin was illegitimate.
There were only small numbers of Thaksin supporters outside the court. The pro-Thaksin United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which leads the red shirts, has said it has no plans for any protests until mid-March.
In addition, they have investigated whether he unduly promoted a $127m low-interest loan to neighbouring Burma to gain a satellite communications company also controlled by his family.
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