Ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was charged with corruption for the first time on Thursday, on the same day as he took a step closer to gaining control of Manchester City football club.
After months of accusations by the military junta, prosecutors formally accused Mr Thaksin, 57, of illegally helping his wife to buy a piece of prime land in Bangkok at a bargain price from the Bank of Thailand after other bidders withdrew from the auction.
The billionaire former prime minister has been living in exile, mainly in London, since he was deposed in a bloodless coup — amid a flurry of corruption allegations — while out of the country last September.
Within hours of the charges being announced, the board of Manchester City accepted Mr Thaksin’s £81.6m bid to buy the club after accepting financial assurances from him. Mr Thaksin favours former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson to lead the club.
A panel of nine judges from Thailand’s supreme court now has until July 10 to decide whether to press ahead with the charges.

£900m frozen
Over the past week, a committee set up by the military-appointed government to investigate corruption allegations against Mr Thaksin has frozen around £900m in assets raised from the sale of his telecoms empire. The Thai justice ministry has already ordered him to return from overseas by June 29 to face charges of concealing his assets. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont gave assurances that his predecessor would be safe, but army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin warned that he could be a target for assassination.
The coup leaders are under pressure to come up with hard evidence against Mr Thaksin, as the corruption allegations were among the prime justifications for his overthrow nine months ago.
The charges relate to a £11.3m land deal by the former prime minister’s wife, Pojaman, in 2003. Mr Thaksin, who faces 10 years in jail and a 60,000-baht fine, denies the charges.

Doubts over return
His lawyer and unofficial spokesman in Thailand, Noppodol Pattama, said he was considering whether to return, but with 12 other corruption allegations under investigation it seems unlikely he will do so.
Mr Noppodol said that Mr Thaksin still had enough money outside the country to finance the purchase of Manchester City.