Prosecutors in Thailand have started preparations to extradite former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman from Britain to face trial on power abuse charges, two days after the Supreme Court issued arrest warrants for the couple.
"About 10 prosecutors educated in British law have been assembled to plan the legal strategies ahead of the execution of an extradition request," chief prosecutor for foreign litigation Samphan Sarathana said Thursday, according to news network The Nation.
Under the bilateral extradition agreement, a request for fugitives must be based on wrongdoings recognized both by the British and Thai legal systems.
Thaksin has lived in a self-imposed exile in London, where he owned a house, with his family's company, after a military coup deposed him as Thai prime minister on Sept. 19 last year.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday approved to issue arrest warrants for Thaksin and Pojaman for failing to appear for the first hearing in a controversial land purchase case.
Thaksin was accused of using his authority as then prime minister to influence the purchase of the five-hectare plot of land in downtown Bangkok by his wife from the Financial Institutions Development Fund in 2003 in a favorable price of one third of the market level.
If convicted, the couple will be liable to sentences of up to ten years in jail.
The Court has ordered the two defendants to stand the hearing rescheduled for Sept. 25.
Thaksin and Pojaman are now on an immigration blacklist and they will be arrested when they step into the country unless they surrender themselves to police first, acting national police chief Seripisuth Temiyavej said Thursday.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Tharit Jarungwat said on Thursday that his ministry had just received copies of the arrest warrants for the Thaksin couple issued by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
He said the passports of the Thaksin couple are still valid up till now, but the ministry will act in coordination with the public prosecutors and police in regard to the execution of the warrants.
Source: Xinhua
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