Thai court confiscates $1.4 bln of Thaksin's frozen assets

Thailand's Supreme court has seized 1.4 billion U.S. dollars of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's frozen assets for abuse of his power. Thaksin denied all the charges against him.

The verdict said 1.4 billion out of the entire 2.3 billion U.S. dollars worth of assets belonging to the Thaksin family will be confiscated. It ruled they were gained through malpractice during Thaksin's premiership. The remaining 900 million U.S. dollars of assets will be returned to the Thaksin family.

Responding to this outcome via a video link, Thaksin who's living in exile said he will accept the verdict but claimed the court ruling is "unjust".

Thaksin Shinawatra, Ousted Thai Prime Minister, said, "These days I am being deprived of justice. I will continue searching for justice."

Neither the self-exiled former prime minister nor his family members attended the verdict session.

In his website, Thaksin claimed that all of his money and assets came from years of hard work instead of corruption as alleged.

Some red-clad Thaksin supporters, who were tracking the court process, cried after learning the verdict.

Both the pro-Thaksin opposition Pheu Thai Party and anti-government group, the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship say they will hold a press conference Saturday morning to respond to the court ruling.