Legalizing its own casinos<\/a> has long been an issue considered in the Thailand government, but the gaming industry remains barred to date.<\/p>\nRoyalist Courts<\/b><\/h2>\n
Thaksin became a self-made billionaire in the information technology and telecommunications industries. He used his great wealth to form the Thai Rak Thai Party, and rose to power in the government.<\/p>\n
He became prime minister in a landslide election in 2001, and was easily reelected four years later. However, after he sold roughly $1 billion in shares of his company to foreign investors tax-free, criticism of his leadership began to intensify.<\/p>\n
On September 19, 2006, a military coup removed him from power and the Thai Rak Thai Party was banned. Thaksin was additionally prohibited from engaging in political activity for life.<\/strong><\/p>\nThailand’s political power was shook up during his tenure as PM. The country’s ruling circle including the royalists, industrialists, and the military all saw their powers reduced.<\/p>\n
The AP <\/i>reports that the court system in Thailand is “one of Thailand’s most royalist and conservative institutions,” and “played a major role in fighting comebacks by his political machine with controversial rulings that consistently whittled away at his allies.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been given an additional two-year prison sentence for his handling of a state lottery program when he was in office more than a decade ago. On Thursday, Thailand’s Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions tacked two more years of\u00a0 onto Shinawatra’s time he is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":106438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Ex-Thailand PM Thaksin Shinawatra Sentenced to Prison Over Lottery<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n