Former Thai leader Shinawatra's British visa 'revoked'

Britain has revoked the visa of Thailand’s ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, making him unable to return to London where he has been living in exile, Thai media reported today.

Thaksin, who fled Thailand in August to escape corruption and other charges, was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court in October to two years in prison. Prosecutors said they would seek his extradition.

Citing an unidentified airline source, the Bangkok Post said the British embassy in Bangkok sent an email to international airlines on Friday asking them not to allow Thaksin and his wife Pojaman to board flights to the United Kingdom.

The report said Thaksin was currently travelling in China but that it was unclear whether his wife was accompanying him.

The email said the couple’s British visas were now invalid, the newspaper reported. The same information was carried in other Thai newspapers today.

A Bangkok-based executive with a European airline confirmed that it had received the email from the British embassy on Friday. He refused to have his name or airline identified, saying “in the current political climate it would be unwise”.

A spokesman for Thaksin in Bangkok said British authorities had not contacted the former prime minister concerning his visa.

“I spoke with Thaksin’s secretary and he said that Thaksin still has not been notified by the British government,” Phongthep Thepkanjana said.

Phongthep said he had been trying to contact British officials to ask about the visa but that he had been unsuccessful. He said he did not know Thaksin’s current location.

Daniel Painter, a spokesman for the British embassy in Bangkok, declined to comment.

“We cannot publicly comment on individual immigration cases,” Mr Painter said.

The Home Office and Foreign Office also said they could not comment.

A Thai court convicted Thaksin in October of violating a conflict-of-interest law by facilitating his wife’s purchase of lucrative Bangkok real estate from a state agency in 2003, while he was prime minister. His wife was acquitted.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse of power. He has said he fled from Thailand because he could not get a fair trial there.