Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand on Aug 22 after 15 years in exile.
BANGKOK: He was ousted in a coup 17 years ago and spent the last 15 of them in self-imposed exile, but Thailand's billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra still casts a remarkable shadow over the country's politics.
Ousted as prime minister by the army in 2006, Thaksin took himself into exile two years later but never stopped commenting and meddling in the country's affairs."He's the most divisive figure in the country," a trusted Thaksin associate told AFP on condition of anonymity. In 1998, he launched his own political party, Thai Rak Thai , and was elected as prime minister in 2001, becoming the country's first premier to serve a full term.
He was re-elected in a landslide victory in 2005, thanks to huge support from rural voters grateful for cash injections and debt relief. Despite his Thai assets being frozen in 2007, he purchased Manchester City football club and later sold it for a sizeable profit.Thai Rak Thai was dissolved by court order after the 2006 coup but eventually evolved into the Pheu Thai party, which brought Thaksin's sister Yingluck to power in 2011.
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