Ousted Thai leader seeks Aussie abode

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

THAILAND'S exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a bloodless coup five months ago, is making plans to call Australia home.
Mr Thaksin spent the weekend in Melbourne and Sydney, playing golf at the Capital Golf Club in Melbourne and at The Lakes in Sydney.
In Sydney, the billionaire has engaged an eastern suburbs property developer to find a suitable home.
Mr Thaksin won three landslide election victories but has been unable to return to his homeland since the Thai military seized power when he was attending a UN summit in New York in September.

"I am looking in the eastern suburbs for a property with good views of the harbour," he told The Australian yesterday. "I think Sydney is very safe and I have friends here. I like Australia. The people are friendly and sincere. The weather is good. It is clean and safe and I can play golf all year round."

Mr Thaksin said he hoped the military-installed government now running Thailand would not see his visit to Australia as provocative.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 01,00.html (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21209529-601,00.html)

( Australia and Thailand are very co-operative with extradition laws :cyclopsani: )

Australia and Thailand are very co-operative with extradition laws


Ha ha ha. Dream on.

I suppose it comes from their history as a dumping ground for British convicts. I recall being on a Qantas flight once where one of my travel companions in First Class was the Butcher of Bangkok (doubtless someone else brown-nosed - sorry, revered - by boygeenyus) General Suchinda, not long after he had retired from public life. He too was off to Melbourne to play golf. As I recall there was a retinue of toadies in Business Class

Legal reasons behind a Thaksin home in Sydney?

News that former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra is looking for a home in Sydney has spurred speculation as to whether he has other motives for wanting to live Down Under. Indeed, there may be legal reasons behind his supposed interest in buying a home in Australia's biggest city. Aside from the fine beaches, golf courses and a warmer climate than, say, London, Australia does not have a formal extradition treaty with Thailand.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/02 ... 026715.php (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/02/13/headlines/headlines_30026715.php)