The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was convicted of corruption, temporarily lived in Valais.
The telecoms billionaire first lived in Arbaz in 2019 before moving to Lens in Crans-Montana in 2021, where he benefited from lump-sum taxation.
Thaksin’s temporary move to Switzerland was co-organised by the flamboyant Geneva politician and co-founder of the Mouvement Citoyens Genevois (MCG) Eric Stauffer. “I once invited the family to Valais and they fell in love with the canton,” he told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
According to Stauffer, he contacted various municipalities on behalf of the ex-prime minister. “He then decided for himself where to move to,” said the local politician from Geneva.
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Thaksin, who is now 74 and made his fortune in the telecoms industry, was elected Prime Minister of Thailand in 2001. he was overthrown in a military coup in 2006 and was later accused of corruption and abuse of power as well as disrespecting the monarchy. he fled the country in 2008 and, apart from Switzerland, lived mainly in Dubai to avoid a prison sentence.
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The former head of government returned to his homeland on August 22, 2023 after 15 years in exile – on the very day that the candidate of the Pheu Thai party he founded, property entrepreneur Srettha Thavisin, was elected as the new prime minister. Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn then reduced the prison sentence to one year. Shinawatra was last detained in a police hospital.
Translated from German by DeepL/amva
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