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BANGKOK: The Thai attorney general's office has begun considering a possible bid to extradite former premier Thaksin Shinawatra from Britain, where he has retreated into exile, an official said Wednesday.
Thaksin skipped a required court appearance in a corruption case Monday in Bangkok and flew to London, saying he believed political interference in Thailand would rob him of a fair trial on corruption charges.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest, and the head of the attorney general's international affairs department told AFP that his office had begun looking into the legalities of seeking his extradition.
"We held an internal meeting Monday to study the legal details and aspects of the case," Sirisak Tiyapan said.
But he added that so far no government agency has actually filed a motion requesting the attorney general to seek Thaksin's return to Thailand.
"Whether we can successfully extradite him depends on the country we put the request to. So far there is no formal request yet," Sirisak said.
Thaksin, who owns the English Premier League club Manchester City, had spent 18 months in exile after the military toppled him in a 2006 coup.
He had spent much of that time in his English home, and last year the attorney general's office had begun working on an extradition request.
But the team working on his extradition was dissolved after Thaksin voluntarily returned to Bangkok on February 28, Sirisak said.
At the time, experts said extraditing Thaksin from Britain would prove difficult because the charges against him are not explicitly covered by existing treaties between the two countries.
- AFP/yb
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