Loved and loathed in almost equal measure, Thaksin Shinawatra transformed Thai politics in the early 2000s with populist policies that won him and his party loyalty from the rural masses.
But that success came at a cost: he and his family were despised by Thailand’s powerful elites and a conservative establishment who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.
On Tuesday, the 76-year-old was finally ordered to serve one year in prison, the culmination of a tortuous legal saga that may have dealt a crippling blow to his dynasty’s hold over Thai politics.
It is the latest turbulent chapter that has seen his political fortunes rise and fall over the past two decades.
Elected prime minister in 2001 and again in 2005, Thaksin was ousted by the army in 2006 and took himself into exile two years later, but never stopped commenting on national affairs — or meddling in them, according to his critics.
He pledged repeatedly to return, despite being convicted on graft and abuse-of-power charges in his absence.
Thaksin finally made good on his vow on August 22, 2023, touching down in Bangkok to a hero’s welcome from his supporters on the day his Pheu Thai party returned to office.
He was immediately arrested and sentenced to eight years in jail, but was whisked to a police hospital within hours on health grounds.
Within days, King Maha Vajiralongkorn cut his term to one year, and Thaksin returned to his Bangkok home in February 2024, having seemingly not seen the inside of a jail cell.
But the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that he had not properly served his sentence, and ordered him behind bars for a year.
Telecoms fortune Thaksin was born on July 26, 1949, into one of the most prominent ethnic Chinese families in northern Chiang Mai province.
He worked as a police officer before amassing a vast fortune founding a series of data networking and mobile telephone firms that would become telecoms giant Shin Corp.
He launched his political party, Thai Rak Thai, in 1998, and became the first premier to serve a full term after being elected in 2001.
With the economy in a deep recession during the Asian financial crisis, Thaksin — one of Thailand’s richest people — promised to use his business savvy to lift
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