Thailand’s top court on Tuesday ordered former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a one-time owner of Premier League side Manchester City, to spend one year in prison.
Mr Thaksin, 76, who served as prime minister from 2001 until his government was toppled in a military coup in 2006, was sentenced to eight years in jail for corruption and abuse of power in 2023.
However, Mr Thaksin’s prison sentence was reduced to a year by Maha Vajiralongkorn, Thailand’s king.
He was released on parole six months later in February 2024 without serving a day in prison because he was admitted to a palatial suite at Bangkok’s Police General Hospital on false health complaints of high blood pressure and low oxygen level.
On Tuesday, Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled that Mr Thaksin received special treatment, including lodging in a luxury hospital, to evade serving his reduced one-year prison sentence due to false medical reports.
According to the court, Mr Thaksin’s medical conditions could have been managed “without the need for prolonged inpatient care”.
“The defendant (Mr Thaksin) benefited from remaining in the hospital without having to return to custody at Bangkok Remand Prison until his eventual release,” the court said, ordering that he return to serve one year in Bangkok Remand Prison.
Thailand’s medical council suspended two doctors in June for aiding Mr Thaksin in gaming the system with fake medical reports.
