EX-THAI PM THAKSIN $1.4 BILLION ASSESTS SEIZED

BANGKOK – Thailand's highest court ruled Friday that ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra abused his power to enrich himself and his family while in office and ordered that $1.4 billion of his telecommunications fortune be seized.

The ruling likely disappoints, if not angers, Thaksin's millions of partisans, boding ill for mending the rifts in Thai society after four years of political unrest centered around him.

• However, some analysts suggested the court's decision not to seize all 76 billion baht ($2.3 billion) at stake was a compromise that could foster reconciliation.
• Thaksin was deposed by a September 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power. The action was meant to quell tensions sparked by months of anti-Thaksin protests, but instead polarized the country.
• "The conflict won't go away immediately. This verdict will simply allow the Thai people to cautiously carry on their lives the same way they have for the past two years," said Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a law professor at Bangkok's Thammasat University. "I think we need to wait until the next general election to learn if the conflict will end."
• The country had increased security leading up to the verdict, but no major violent reaction was immediately reported. Thaksin, speaking by video link from exile, told his supporters to continue to fight for what he terms justice and democracy, but to do so nonviolently.
• The passions Thaksin sparked led to the occupation of the seat of government for several months and seizure of the capital's two airports for a week by his opponents in 2008, and rioting and disruption of a conference of Asian heads of government by his supporters last year.
• His so-called Red Shirt supporters continue to rally on his behalf, and have promised a "million-man march" for next month. They seek to force the government of current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, a Thaksin opponent, to call new elections.

Source: AP