BANGKOK (AFP) — Deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra pleaded not guilty Wednesday to corruption charges, in the first case assembled by military-backed investigators to reach court.
Thaksin said little during the 20-minute hearing before the Supreme Court, which was packed with hundreds of his supporters who filled the courtroom and spilled out onto the steps outside.
After a judge read out the charges, accusing Thaksin of using his political influence to win his wife a sweetheart property deal, he was asked if he pleaded not guilty. Thaksin simply replied: "Yes."
The court also said Thaksin would not have to attend every hearing in his trial.
The billionaire had requested that the trial proceed in his absence so he can travel overseas to tend to his investments, particularly the English Premier League club Manchester City, which he bought last year.
Thaksin has already been granted court permission to travel to Britain for a month. He is expected to leave Thailand later in the week.
Thaksin's arraignment came less than two weeks after his jubilant return to Thailand, ending nearly 18 months in self-imposed exile following the 2006 military-backed coup against him.
Security was tight with 150 police patrolling around the court and conducting bomb checks on cars near the building.
Wearing a black suit with a white shirt, Thaksin did not speak to reporters as he left the court, but he greeted the hundreds of supporters waiting for him outside, many of them carrying red roses for the fallen premier.
A few broke into tears as he clasped his hands together in a traditional Thai gesture of greeting and thanks, telling them: "Thank you, thank you."
"Today we have denied all charges," his lawyer Pichit Cheunban told reporters after the hearing.
"We are confident that we can answer all questions and defend against any accusations by the prosecutors," he said.
His son Panthongtae accompanied him to the 20-minute hearing. His wife Pojaman has already pleaded not guilty in the same case.
Thaksin and his wife each face up to 13 years in prison over two graft charges alleging she used his political influence to buy prime Bangkok property in 2003 from a government agency at about one-third of its estimated value.
They have been ordered to submit evidence in their defence by April 29, but no new hearing has been scheduled.
The land scandal is the only case investigated by a military-backed panel to go to trial.
The panel, known as the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), this week asked the Supreme Court to accept another case accusing Thaksin of wrongly legalising an underground lottery.
Special investigators at the justice ministry are set to decide next month whether to prosecute Thaksin over charges of securities fraud in the listing of a property company in 2003.
The military toppled Thaksin over allegations of widespread corruption, but after 16 months in power, failed to win any convictions against him.
No charges have been filed over blockbuster scandals like his family's tax-free sale of his telecom giant Shin Corp, although two billion dollars in suspected profits from the deal have been frozen pending a close to the investigation.
Thailand's courts, while independent, often sway with the prevailing political winds, analysts say. After Thaksin's allies swept back into power in elections late last year, doubts have grown over how successful prosecutors will be in pursuing him.
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