Court bars Thaksin’s former wife from selling land

BANGKOK, Jan 26 (TNA) – Thailand’s Civil Court on Wednesday issued an injunction to bar Pojaman Na Pombejra, ex-wife of convicted prime  minister Thaksin Shinawatra from selling or transferring ownership of the controversial land tract on Bangkok’s Ratchadapisek area until the case is concluded.

The injunction was issued after the Bank of Thailand (BoT) Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) filed a civil lawsuit against Mrs Pojaman in September 2009 to invalidate the sale of the four plots totalling 33 rai of land at Ratchadapisek area on December 30, 2003 from the FIDF to Pojaman for Bt772 million and want her to return the land to the FIDF.

The injunction, which was issued at the request of the FIDF, prohibits Khunying Pojaman from selling or transferring the ownership of the land until the case is concluded or the court issue any other order.

The case is under legal process.

FIDF is a central bank body created to rehabilitate the 26 financial institutions that went bust in the 1997 economic crisis.

Ousted in a bloodless coup three years ago, Mr Thaksin was sentenced by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to a two-year prison term for a conflict of interest and malfeasance when he was prime minister to help his then wife purchase prime land on Ratchadapisek Road.

Mrs Pojaman won the bid for the land purchase, but the now defunct Assets Examination Committee (ASC) accused her and her husband of influencing the deal when Mr Thaksin was prime minister.

The court ruled that such move violated the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act in relation to the land purchase.

Pojaman and Thaksin divorced in Hong Kong in November 2008. (TNA)