Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said early Friday morning via social media that an immigration delay in Bangkok forced him to head for Dubai instead of Singapore on Thursday night.
In a post on X at 2.07am Friday, Thaksin wrote that he earlier intended to visit Singapore for a checkup with a doctor.
He complained that immigration police in Thailand delayed his flight for almost two hours although he already had the right to leave the country.
During the flight to Singapore, his pilot told him that his plane could not reach Singapore’s Seletar airport for private jets in time because it closed at 10pm and Singapore time was one hour ahead of Thailand time, Thaksin wrote.
Therefore, he had his pilot head for Dubai instead because he has doctors there who had treated him for a long time.
His plane had to circle for a long period pending approval from Dubai airport. When permission was granted, his plane turned towards Dubai, he wrote.
Thaksin promised to return to Thailand by Sept 8 and go to the Supreme Court to hear its ruling on Sept 9.
The court ordered him to attend the hearing on the case concerning his prolonged stay at Police General Hospital, instead of being in jail, from mid-2023 to early 2024.
