GGRAsia – Thaksin Shinawatra, father of new Thai PM, backs casinos

Thaksin Shinawatra, father of new Thai PM, backs casinos

Aug 23, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Former Thai prime minister and businessman Thaksin Shinawatra (pictured in a file photo) – father of the country’s incoming premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra – said he backed a policy for legalising casino resort business in the country. His remarks were made in a Thursday speech about desired economic reforms in Thailand.

His daughter Ms Shinawatra was chosen as prime minister two days after Thailand’s Constitutional Court removed the previous one, Srettha Thavisin – a supporter of the casino policy – for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who had served a prison sentence.

Bloomberg said in a report on Thursday’s meeting involving Mr Shinawatra, that he also backed legalising casinos as part of large entertainment complexes being proposed by the government as it could lead to investment of about THB100 billion (US$2.90 billion) for at least one facility in Bangkok, and about THB50 billion each for any such complexes set up in Thailand’s provinces.

Mr Shinawatra’s comments were at a gathering of 1,400 bankers, business executives and politicians in Bangkok.

He said the country needed urgently to tackle its high levels of household and public debt and focus on policies that could help its economic growth match some of its Southeast Asian neighbours.

The Bangkok Post cited Mr Shinawatra as saying the country’s finance ministry and other ministries should take the lead in addressing what he termed the chronic debt burden.

Reports of the meeting said the former prime minister mentioned the government was considering using THB145 billion from the 2024 fiscal budget to provide handouts to 14.5 million people in September, with additional disbursements starting from October.

Mr Shinawatra, who served as Thailand’s prime minister from 2001 until he was ousted in a military coup in 2006, was last week granted a pardon by Thailand’s king.

He had left Thailand in 2008, spending 15 years based in Dubai. Mr Shinawatra returned to the country in August last year, and was taken into custody and sentenced by the Supreme Court to eight years in prison on charges of graft and abuse of power.