Court convicts Shinawatra

FORMER Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra was yesterday convicted of abusing his powers to make a personal fortune and had almost a billion dollars of his assets seized.

The country’s Supreme Court did not take the full amount frozen after he was overthrown as prime minister in a 2006 coup.

It said that “to seize all the money would be unfair since some of it was made before Thaksin became prime minister”.

The verdict brings an end to a case for alleged massive corruption and abuse of power which began after the coup.

Security was tight around the courthouse as the nine-judge panel took more than seven hours to read its verdict.

Thaksin, who faces a two-year jail term from an earlier conviction, monitored the proceedings from exile in Dubai.