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U.K. revokes Thaksin’s visa

Thaksin Shinawatra

BANGKOK: Britain has revoked the visa of Thailand’s ousted Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, making him unable to return to London where he has been living in exile, Thai media reported on Saturday.

Mr. Thaksin, who fled Thailand in August to escape corruption and other charges, was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court in October to two years in prison. Prosecutors said they would seek his extradition.

Citing an unidentified airline source, the Bangkok Post said the British Embassy in Bangkok sent an e-mail to international airlines on Friday asking them not to allow Mr. Thaksin and his wife Pojaman to board flights to the U.K.

The report said Mr. Thaksin is currently travelling in China but it is unclear whether his wife is accompanying him. The e-mail said the couple’s British visas are now invalid. The same information was carried in other Thai newspapers on Saturday.

A spokesman for Mr. Thaksin in Bangkok said on Saturday that British authorities had not contacted Mr. Thaksin concerning his visa. “I spoke to Thaksin’s secretary and he said Thaksin still has not been notified by the British government,” said Phongthep Thepkanjana.

Mr. Phongthep said he had been trying to contact British officials to ask about the visa, but he had been unsuccessful. He said he did not know Mr. Thaksin’s current location. A Thai Airways International official said she could not confirm reports of the e-mail from the embassy.

Daniel Painter, spokesman for the British Embassy in Bangkok, said: We cannot comment on individual immigration cases,” he said. Britain’s Home Office and Foreign Office also said they could not comment. — AP

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