Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has had his electronic monitoring anklet removed and is officially a free man, less than a week after receiving a royal pardon, the Department of Corrections said on Tuesday.
“The prison issued the official release documents and certificate of discharge to Thaksin,” the department said in a statement.
Thaksin is “no longer subject to criminal punishment, supervision or related conditions”, the statement said, noting that the same standards were applied to other eligible parolees.
Thaksin, 76, served eight months of a one-year sentence for corruption and abuse of power before being released on parole on May 11 due to his age and health.
The former premier was required to wear an electronic monitoring device as a condition of his release until the expiry of his sentence on Sept 9. However, the royal pardon meant that his sentence was terminated immediately.
The telecoms billionaire was among those eligible for a pardon on June 3, the birthday of Her Majesty the Queen, because he had less than one year remaining on his sentence.
Thaksin is reportedly expected to travel to Dubai for personal business this month. It was his base of operations for most of the 15-plus years he spent outside of Thailand prior to his return in August 2023.
A legal representative for Thaksin did not respond immediately to a request for comment from AFP.
Thaksin was sent to prison on Sept 9 last year, when the Supreme Court ordered him to actually serve the one-year sentence handed down in 2023 for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while serving as prime minister prior to 2006.
The court said it did not recognise his prolonged stay in a VIP ward at the Police General Hospital between 2023 and 2024 as qualifying for prison time.
