Thai court seizes Thaksin assets

Thailand’s Supreme Court rules it will seize $1.4bn of $2.3bn in contested assets belonging to the family of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

The funds were frozen after Mr Thaksin’s elected government was overthrown in a military coup in 2006.

Mr Thaksin, who is living abroad, has denied any wrongdoing.

The amount seized by the court is more than half of the $2.3bn that prosecutors had demanded.

It was not yet clear if the outstanding $900m will be returned to Mr Thaksin.

The court took several hours to deliver its verdict, with security forces on high alert amid government predictions of violence by Mr Thaksin’s red-shirted supporters if the court decision went against him.