Ousted Thai PM Thaksin vows comeback

THAILAND: Thailand's exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra has vowed to pursue his political fight and said he is ready to return to the prime minister's post he was ousted from in 2006, Thai media reported Tuesday.

Speaking by telephone to supporters in the northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province on Monday, Thaksin was reported in Thai and English-language press as saying he would fight to clear his name as corruption cases stack up.

"I earlier announced that I would wash my hands of politics," Thaksin was quoted as saying in the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper.

"But there are so many politically-motivated cases being filed against me. I want to tell you now that I am ready to return to the political arena once again," he added from an undisclosed location abroad.

"I will fight on no matter what happens. I'm ready to be prime minister again if people support me."

Thaksin was toppled in a September 2006 coup, with the military claiming that corruption and abuse of power under his two terms as premier had damaged the country, and they also questioned his loyalty to the revered monarchy. The tycoon-turned-politician has spent most of his time since the coup in self-imposed exile, and was last October sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of power linked to a 2003 land deal.

Bangkok, AFP