Shinawatra stokes tensions by taking job with Cambodian government

Former Thai prime minister accepts role as economic adviser amid diplomatic row between countries

Adam Gabbatt and agencies guardian.co.uk

Thursday 5 November 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been appointed as an economic adviser to the Cambodian government. Photograph: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

During his tenure as Thai prime minister, he was accused of corruption and later convicted of allowing his wife to buy state land at a discount price. In his sole season in charge of Manchester City the club recorded a loss of nearly £30m. But now Thaksin Shinawatra has a new job – as an economic adviser to the Cambodian government.

Cambodia announced that the former Thai prime minister – who last year was sentenced in absentia to two years' imprisonment in his home country – will serve as an adviser on economic matters to both its government and prime minister, in a move that has immediately raised tensions in Thailand.

Thai officials said today that the country would recall its ambassador in Cambodia and "review all of the agreements" between the two countries following the announcement of Shinawatra's appointment yesterday.

State television in Cambodia confirmed last night that King Norodom Sihamoni had officially approved Shinawatra to take up his new role. The former Manchester City chairman, who was convicted of violating a conflict of interest law in 2008, was ousted as Thai prime minister in 2006 in a military coup. He has been living in self-imposed exile ever since.

Shinawatra is still a deeply divisive figure in Thailand, where officials claim he is trying to undermine the current government to regain power. And Chavanont Intarakomalsut, a secretary to the Thai foreign minister, confirmed that the country would recall its ambassador from Cambodia "to express our dissatisfaction" with the appointment.

"We will also review all of the agreements between the two countries along with any other cooperation with them," he said.

Cambodia's seeming adoption of Shinawatra represents the most severe diplomatic action so far amid ongoing tensions with Thailand. The two countries have been involved in a series of small but sometimes deadly skirmishes over the demarcation of their border in recent months.

Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, angered his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva, ahead of a summit meeting of Asian leaders in Thailand last month by declaring that Shinawatra was welcome to take refuge in Cambodia. Thailand responded by saying it would seek to extradite Shinawatra if he went to Cambodia, who countered that such a request would be rejected, as Shinwatra's prosecution and conviction had been politically motivated.

His supporters in Thailand claim the country's political elite is ignoring the fact Shinawatra was twice democratically elected because it feels its own privileges are threatened.

The new Cambodian economic adviser, who purchased Manchester City for £81.6m in 2007, made his fortune in telecommunications before entering politics in 1994. He was elected prime minister in 2001 and served for five years before being deposed.

Shinawatra – whose wife, Pojaman, was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for tax fraud in 2008 – had his UK visa revoked in November last year.