BANGKOK: Thailand’s jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has requested a royal pardon, a government minister said on Thursday, as rumours of a backroom deal for clemency swirl.

The 74-year-old billionaire, twice elected PM and ousted in a 2006 military coup, was sent to prison last week immediately after returning to the kingdom from 15 years of self-exile.

His homecoming coincided with his Pheu Thai party returning to government in alliance with several pro-military parties, sparking widespread speculation that an agreement had been struck to cut his jail time.

Caretaker justice minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said Thaksin had applied for a pardon from the eight-year jail term he is serving for convictions for graft and abuse of power. “We have received (the requ­est), the rest will be according to the procedure,” Wissanu told reporters.

Asked how long the process would take, Wissanu said: “It is purely based on royal grace. The procedure from the government is not long, but it depends on the length of (the king’s) consideration.” Under Thai law, prisoners can submit a pardon application that is passed from the justice minister through the prime minister to the privy council before going to King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Officials say the process takes one to two months, if all the paperwork is in order.

On landing in Bangkok last week, Thaksin’s first public act was to prostrate himself in homage before a portrait of the king at the airport.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2023