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BANGKOK - Thailand's top court said Friday it would confiscate frozen assets worth 46 billion baht (1.4 billion dollars) from deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, more than half his fortune.
But the nine judges ruled the fugitive former leader could hold on to wealth they said he had already accumulated before taking office in 2001.
"The majority of the judges rule that the wealth of Thaksin to be confiscated, from share dividends and part of the share sales... is altogether 46.37 billion baht," judges said in a ruling read out on national television and radio.
"To confiscate all of the wealth of Thaksin is unfair to Thaksin," they said.
"But as he was a state official and unconstitutionally held shares in a company that received concessions from the state, he has abused his authority."
The government applied for the seizure of the proceeds from the sale of shares owned by Thaksin and his family to Singapore-based Temasek holdings, which have been frozen since the coup that toppled him four years ago.
The Supreme Court ruled that Thaksin could hold on to the stock value of his company before he became prime minister in February 2001, worth 30.2 billion baht, they said.
In a more than seven-hour verdict reading, the judges said that Thaksin abused his power to benefit the telecoms company he then owned, Shin Corp, earning wealth from a sales of shares in the company through "inappropriate means". - AFP/vm
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