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Thaksin ready for Premiership |
Having survived two spectacular assassination attempts and
reportedly sanctioned the summary execution of as many as 3,000
Thai drug dealers, life at the City of Manchester Stadium should
hold few surprises for Thaksin Shinawatra.
But should Manchester City fans be so fearless in embracing the
former Thai Prime Minister?
Opinion back home is polarised between the poor rural Thais who saw
Shinawatra's "Thaksinomics" school of political reform as a
positive force and those who believe he wanted to line his own
pockets.
Shinawatra halved poverty in just five years and provided
affordable health care for the majority.
Zero tolerance towards illegal drugs saw 3,000 people shot dead.
Democratically elected as Prime Minister in 2001 - Thailand's
first leader with an absolute majority - Shinawatra was the first
Thai PM to serve a full-term and win re-election.
Even today, his supporters reportedly gather in central Bangkok
calling for his return.
Yet critics say Shinawatra is guilty of corruption and human rights
violations, with opponents comparing him to Hitler, Saddam and Pol
Pot.
Concerns
Most criticism levelled at Shinawatra, known as Na Liam - or Square
head, is based on concerns that he bent the rules of business to
his advantage.
There was talk of a conflict of interest due to his ownership of
AIS, Thailand's largest mobile phone operator.
When Mr Shinawatra's family and in-laws, the Damapongs, sold their
Shin Corp telecoms company to Singapore's Temasek Holdings for
£950m in January 2006, they are said to have paid very little
tax.
The sale triggered street protests by as many as 65,000 supporters
of The People's Alliance for Democracy, forcing him to dissolve
parliament and call a snap election in April 2006.
That poll was boycotted by the main opposition parties and later
annulled by a court.
The political stalemate prompted Sondhi Boonyaratglin, Thailand's
army chief, to stage last September's bloodless coup while
Shinawatra was on a visit to the United Nations conference in New
York.
Boonyaratglin says that Shinawatra is now wanted in Thailand on
charges of corruption, abuse of power and fraud.
He warns that he could not guarantee Shinawatra's safety if he
were to return to Thailand.
Indeed, there were two attempts on Shinawatra's life when he was
still in office.
In March 2001, Shinawatra was walking towards a Thai Airways
International 737 with around 150 passengers when a device exploded
underneath the seats where he and his son had been booked to sit. A
member of the airline staff was killed in the blast.
Last August a car packed with 67 kilos of explosives was parked
outside his house.
The former Thai Prime Minister has other enemies too.
Amnesty International criticised his zero tolerance campaign
against the drug trade amid suggestions that death squads operated
in Thailand.
There has also been concern about unrest among Muslims in the south
of Thailand, which is said to have cost more than 1,000 lives.
Thais Love Thais - the political party which Thaksin Shinawatra
founded in 1999 - was banned in May this year.
His diplomatic passport has been revoked, Thai embassies told not
to help him travel, and he continues to live in exile in London.
Shinawatra's frozen assets in Thailand are now said to be worth as
much as £1bn and are in addition to the funds which he will
use to buy Manchester City.
Comfort
Perhaps Blues fans will find comfort in the fact that a man
boasting of such humble beginnings achieved so much in the first
place?
Now 57 and a father of three children, Shinawatra says he was "a
rural kid" and "the son of a coffee shop owner".
"I helped my father with his orchards, newspaper delivery and
mobile cinema," he revealed.
But even that point is controversial.
Shinawatra's biographers suggest that he was actually born with a
silver spoon in his mouth, coming from "one of the most prominent
families in Thailand's second city, Chiang Mai." They claim his
family have been major movers and shakers in the spheres of
business and politics for four generations.
Whatever the truth, the road to Eastlands has been long and largely
successful.
He was still working as a policeman when he began his business
career and used his connections to begin building a telecoms
business in 1983.
He made a £2bn fortune as the boss of Thailand's biggest
mobile phone company before establishing Thais Love Thais in 1999.
His troubles in Thailand now make even the search for a new City
manager seem insignificant.
Just hours before the City board accepted his millions, Shinawatra
was formally charged - in absentia - over a land deal with his
wife, Pojaman. The deal was completed with the Thai central bank at
a time when Shinawatra was prime minister in 2003.
Questioned this week about the many accusations against him,
Shinawatra insisted his desire to one day return to Thailand and
fight a democratic election.
Returning now would only lead to clashes between the people and the
military, he says, but he is confident that his innocence will be
proven.
Equally, he believes that it will be possible for him to obtain his
frozen billions.
The last hurdle now facing Shinawatra's takeover of Manchester
City is the Premier League's rigorous "fit and proper persons
test".
Among the 24 offences which disqualify an individual from becoming
a significant player in the ownership and running of a Premiership
club are convictions for theft, conspiracy to defraud, fraudulent
trading and tax evasion.
No one has failed the Premiership test yet and it is unlikely that
Shinawatra will either.
Time will tell whether the Manchester City board were right to
broker a deal with Thaksin Shinawatra.
But one thing is certain. In Shinawatra, the City board have found
a backer who is unlikely to be fazed by pretty much anything the
Premiership can throw in his direction.
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