Thailand’s King, Maha Vajiralongkorn, has reduced the prison term given to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, slashing it from eight years to one year.
The news, which follows Thaksin’s return to Bangkok last week after 15 years living in exile, was announced in a notice in the Royal Gazette.
The notorious politician flew back to Thailand in a private jet after living in self-exile to avoid prison. He was rushed from Don Mueang Airport to the Supreme Court to hear verdicts from three criminal convictions, before being sent straight to prison to serve an eight-year sentence for abuse of power and conflicts of interest from his time in power.
“Thaksin accepted his crime and showed remorse,” the Royal Gazette document said, adding that the former prime minister was ill.
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Hours after his return, Srettha Thavisin, of the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai party, won a parliamentary vote to become prime minister with the support of pro-military lawmakers.
Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon, still wields influence in Thai politics with parties loyal to him winning every election in the past two decades until this year.
Recent events have fuelled speculation that Thaksin has struck a deal with his bitter rivals in the conservative establishment and royalist military, which ousted his parties in coups in 2006 and 2014, at the time accusing him and his parties of corruption and disloyalty to the powerful monarchy.
Thaksin denied those allegations and has rejected talk of a deal with the generals.
On his first night in jail, Thaksin was transferred to a police hospital for chest pains and high blood pressure.
Meanwhile, Srettha has forwarded a list of his Cabinet ministers to the King for endorsement, officials said on Friday.
He is expected to read the new government’s official policy statement on September 8, while the first meeting of his Cabinet is planned on September 12, according to reports on Friday.
- Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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