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BANGKOK : Police in Thailand on Wednesday gave toppled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra one more month to return home to hear corruption charges, or possibly face an arrest warrant.
The Department of Special Investigations (DSI) last week ordered Thaksin and his wife Pojaman to return to Bangkok by Friday to face charges of making fraudulent filings to stock exchange regulators.
Police threatened Thaksin with arrest if he failed to show up, but the ousted leader's lawyer said Tuesday that he feared for Thaksin's safety and would advise his client not to return to the kingdom.
Thaksin has been living in exile, mostly at his London home, since he was overthrown in a coup last September.
"The DSI has re-issued the summons for Thaksin and his wife to come to hear their charges on July 27," a DSI spokeswoman said, adding that if the couple did not show up, the DSI could issue an arrest warrant.
DSI director-general Sunai Manomai-udom told reporters that police would refer the case to the country's attorney general if the couple did not appear.
Thaksin and Pojaman face charges related to an alleged fraudulent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission over the 2003 listing of SC Asset, a property company owned by his family.
The management of SC Asset and a relative of Pojaman face similar charges, and have been ordered to appear before the DSI by July 26.
Thailand's justice minister warned this week that if Thaksin failed to comply with the summons, Thailand could seek to have him extradited from Britain.
An anti-corruption body installed by the junta has over the past month frozen at least 1.6 billion dollars of Thaksin's assets, while prosecutors have also laid formal criminal charges against him over a land purchase in 2003. - AFP/ch
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