Thailand starts long Thaksin extradition process

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has begun the lengthy process of trying to extradite former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who skipped bail this week and went into exile in London, a state prosecutor said on Wednesday.

History suggests it will be many years, if at all, before the 59-year-old telecommunications tycoon is sent home from London, a bolt-hole for many wealthy ex-politicians and businessmen keen to exploit generous visa rules and a long-winded extradition process.

Thaksin's prolonged absence from Thailand would be likely to soothe the political tension that has dogged the government and markets for the last three years.

State prosecutor Kosonlavat Intujunyong said a team of lawyers had been drawn up to look into Thaksin's case, and was waiting for the formal signature of the Attorney-General, due to return from an overseas trip this week.

"We have to prove that what he did in Thailand was wrong under British law," the prosecutor told Reuters.

Thailand has been trying without success for the last decade to get its hands on a banker who fled in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Britain's courts have also rejected repeated attempts by Russia to secure the return of businessman Boris Berezovsky, who fled in 2001 before being convicted in absentia in Moscow and sentenced to six years in jail in 2007 for embezzlement.

Thailand's Supreme Court issued arrest warrants on Monday for Thaksin and his wife, Potjaman, and seized 13 million baht ($385,000) in bail bonds after the couple failed to appear at a corruption hearing.

"FIT AND PROPER"?

In a statement from his refuge in London, Thaksin apologized for failing to appear in the case, which relates to his wife's purchase of state land for a knock-down price while Thaksin was in office.

In justifying his decision to jump bail, he said the political enemies who engineered his removal in a 2006 military coup were meddling in the courts, making it impossible for him to receive a fair hearing in Thailand.

It is not known whether he will try to claim political asylum.

After his removal in the 2006 coup on allegations of "rampant corruption", Thaksin spent much of his time in Britain, where he bought English Premiership soccer club Manchester City.

The army-appointed interim government looked into trying to extradite him under a bilateral criminal treaty signed with Britain in 1911, but never lodged an official request as no formal charges had been filed against him.

That is no longer the case.