Ex-Thai PM ordered to pay $500m tax bill

Thailand's Supreme Court ordered jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday to pay back taxes over the sale of his telecoms firm, the judiciary said, with reports putting the sum due at around half a billion dollars.

In 2006, Thaksin was dogged by corruption allegations and mired in controversy over the tax-free sale of shares in his company, Shin Corp. Later that year he was ousted as prime minister in a coup and then went into exile for more than a decade.

The 76-year-old politician, one of Thailand's richest people, is currently serving a prison sentence in Bangkok for corruption during his time in office.

On Monday, the Supreme Court overruled an appeals court decision in the tax case, "forcing Thaksin to follow the order by the Revenue Department to pay tax", court spokesman Suriyan Hongvilai told AFP.

Suriyan did not provide the specific sum to be paid nor the court's reasoning for its ruling.