Thai anti-corruption investigators ordered ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday to return from exile within 10 days to face charges of concealing assets. "The accused must show up to defend himself by June 29," Sunai Manomai-udom, head of the Justice Ministry's Department of Special Investigations (DSI), told reporters.
"If he fails to show up we will issue the summons again. We can also issue an arrest warrant if we find that he intends to avoid the court order," he said. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, appointed by the army after its removal of Thaksin in a September coup, said Thaksin's safety would be assured, although it remains far from clear if the military will allow him back.
Army chief and coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who has the power to fire Surayud, said last week Thaksin's life could be in danger if he came back to try to clear his name and recover $1.5 billion frozen in Thai bank accounts.
Sonthi has not commented on the DSI summons. Speculation about Thaksin's imminent return a week ago knocked more than two percent off the value of the stock market as investors feared it would embolden anti-coup street protesters and increase the chance of serious political unrest.
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