Thailand's Supreme Court on Tuesday found former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra guilty in absentia of abuse of office and sentenced him to two years in prison. Thaksin fled to Britain in August and has said he will not return to answer charges that he calls politically motivated. "I have been informed of the result," he told the Reuters news agency Tuesday. "I had long anticipated that it would turn out this way."
Prosecutors said they would ask Britain to extradite him.
Thaksin's wife, Pojaman, who shares his exile and was accused along with him in the case, was acquitted.
The verdict relates to a case that began in 2003, shortly after Thaksin became prime minister. Pojaman bought a prime plot of land in central Bangkok from the central bank's Financial Institutions Development Fund for 772 million baht, now about $23 million, outbidding two real estate developers in a process that political observers generally say was clean.