Former Thai prime minister convicted of corruption previously lived in Switzerland
Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accompanied by his daughter and Pheu Thai Party prime ministerial candidate Paetongtarn Shinawatra, greets supporters and journalists upon his arrival at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok, Thailand, August 22, 2023. Shinawatra returned to Thailand after living in self-imposed exile for 15 years, following his overthrow by a military coup on September 19, 2006.
Keystone / Rungroj Yongrit
The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was convicted of corruption, temporarily lived in Valais.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
The telecoms billionaire first lived in Arbaz in 2019 before moving to Lens in Crans-Montana in 2021, where he benefited from lump-sum taxation.
Thaksin’s temporary move to Switzerland was co-organised by the flamboyant Geneva politician and co-founder of the Mouvement Citoyens Genevois (MCG) Eric Stauffer. “I once invited the family to Valais and they fell in love with the canton,” he told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
According to Stauffer, he contacted various municipalities on behalf of the ex-prime minister. “He then decided for himself where to move to,” said the local politician from Geneva.
Thaksin, who is now 74 and made his fortune in the telecoms industry, was elected Prime Minister of Thailand in 2001. he was overthrown in a military coup in 2006 and was later accused of corruption and abuse of power as well as disrespecting the monarchy. he fled the country in 2008 and, apart from Switzerland, lived mainly in Dubai to avoid a prison sentence.
The former head of government returned to his homeland on August 22, 2023 after 15 years in exile – on the very day that the candidate of the Pheu Thai party he founded, property entrepreneur Srettha Thavisin, was elected as the new prime minister. Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn then reduced the prison sentence to one year. Shinawatra was last detained in a police hospital.
Translated from German by DeepL/amva
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Abroad
The citizenship obstacle course facing spouses of Swiss Abroad
Swiss committee wants to end government resignations during legislative term
This content was published on
Members of the Federal Council should no longer be able to leave office before the end of their term, according to a House of Representatives committee.
Swiss government seat: Ritter and Pfister nominated to succeed Amherd
This content was published on
Markus Ritter from St Gallen and Martin Pfister from Zug were officially nominated by the Centre Party on Friday to succeed Defence Minister Viola Amherd.
Top Swiss court rejects Russian request for administrative tax assistance
This content was published on
There is currently no reason to transmit banking information to the Russian Federation, the Swiss Federal Court has ruled.
After strike by radiologists, doctors demonstrate in Bern
This content was published on
Following a strike by radiology technicians in Fribourg, doctors, vets, dentists and chiropractors expressed their frustration on Friday outside parliament in the Swiss capital.
Eurovision and bleak world situation are top themes at Basel carnival
This content was published on
The Eurovision Song Contest and the gloomy global situation are among the main themes of Basel Fasnacht (carnival) this year.
Prices of Swiss investment properties continue to rise despite stagnating rents
This content was published on
Although rents in Switzerland stagnated or fell in the final quarter of last year, prices for investment properties continued to rise. Both apartment buildings and office properties have become more expensive.
Probe into wrong Swiss pension figures clears federal office
This content was published on
Employees of the Swiss Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) did not breach their duty of care when calculating pension prospects, an investigation has concluded.
This content was published on
Hotels in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino welcomed significantly more guests last December than in the same month of the previous year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.