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Singapore: Thailand will investigate the source of the funds that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will use to buy Britain's Manchester City soccer club, the Thai finance minister said Sunday.
Thaksin, ousted in a coup in September, has made an £81.6 million (Dh595 million) bid for the English Premier League club. Manchester City on Thursday recommended to its shareholders accept.
Thaksin, a billionaire who made his fortune in telecommunications before serving as prime minister in 2001-06, lives in exile in London.
Prosecutors last week charged him and his wife with conflict of interest and malfeasance in a 2003 purchase of government-held prime Bangkok real estate. More than a billion dollars of his money has been frozen in Thailand.
When Thaksin was prime minister and was required by law to declare all his wealth, none of the declarations disclosed any foreign assets, said Thai Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn.
"So this money which would be used for Manchester City is still a mystery to Thailand. So I cannot tell where the money will be coming from," he told reporters in Singapore on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia.
"I am sure the Asset Examination Commission will look at the source of these funds and try to see whether they are legal funds that were taken out," he said.
"If the deal goes ahead and the money is paid, they will try to look at it," he said. "We don't know yet how he is going to finance it. We won't know until the deal is finalised."
Several cases are pending against Thaksin in Thailand, where corruption investigators have ordered more than 60 billion baht (Dh6.6 billion) of his wealth frozen on suspicion it was gained illicitly.
Thaksin has not said whether he will return to face the trial. The first court hearing is expected on July 10.
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