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Fugitive former Thai premier and wife split after 32 years
Wed, November 19 2008
Thaksin and his wife Pojaman copy Thailand’s fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra has divorced his wife of 32 years, sealing the separation at the Thai consulate in Hong Kong.
Thaksin, who faces a two-year jail term if he returns to Thailand, announced his divorce from his wife, Pojaman, to political allies who attended a dinner with him in Hong Kong Friday evening, the Bangkok Post said.
The Thai-language Thai Rath newspaper also carried reports of the separation. It was unclear why the couple divorced although media reports speculated that it might be a legal move designed to improve the family’s efforts to reclaim $2.2 billion in frozen assets in Thai banks.
Much of the Shinawatra assets are in Pojaman’s name. Thaksin, once ranked among Thailand’s richest men, made his fortune off government telecommunications concessions.
He used his private fortune to enter politics, setting up the Thai Rak Thai Party, which won the 2001 election on a platform of populist policies and kept him in power until he was toppled in a bloodless military coup in September 2006.
Thaksin and Pojaman fled to London Aug. 11 after receiving court permission to travel to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
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