BANGKOK: Thailand’s jailed billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was seen early on Sunday (Feb 18) in a vehicle leaving a hospital where he has been in detention for the past six months, according to Reuters witnesses.
Thaksin, 74, had been scheduled to be released on parole on Sunday, according to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Thaksin’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for confirmation he had been formally released.
Thailand’s best-known and most polarising premier, Thaksin has loomed large over politics for two decades, despite 15 years in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail sentence for abuse of power and conflicts of interest.