(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman have formally filed for political asylum in the U.K. Although it was a given that they were seeking asylum when they landed in August, Btritain’s home office today confrimed that Thaksin and his Wife Pojaman did apply for Asylum at that time.

Removed from office during the 2006 coup Thaksin and his wife have spent much of thier time since in the U.K. At one point Thaksin bought Manchester City football club which he recentley sold for some four hundred million dollars.

With the Thai elections bringing his old Thai Rak Thai party back into power under a new name ( PPP ) Thaksin returned to Thailand in hopes that his name would be cleared. It became very apparent that that wasn’t to be the case after his wife was found guilty of tax evasion and multiple charges were brought against Thaksin for Corruption.

( Reuters )

Although the couples passports were revoked and they were denied application to leave the country for a week to attend the Bejiing Olympics somehow at the last minute they were granted their passports and allowed to leave the country. They were to return the following day after the opening ceremonies but instead missed their Thai Air flight for a more convenient flight to the U.K. Arrest warrants have since been issued for the pair.

It remains to be seen what if anything the U.K. will allow in this case and how the Thai government will respond. The Thai government will apparently seek extradition of the couple.

I personally don’t see the Thai government pushing the issue as long as Thaksin’s brother in law is the new Thai Prime Minister. I think there will be much talk and many raised voices but in the end the issue will quietly disappear and Thaksin with his millions will be granted Asylum.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!