Thaksin Shinawatra

Former Prime Minister (2001-2006), Thailand

Date of Birth: 26-07-1949
Place of Birth: Chiengmai, Thailand

Known for his polarising effect in Thai politics, his flight from justice and his interest in football teams in England, Thaksin Shinawatra also presided over a sharp increase in Thai trade with Africa. Before politics, he was a police officer with a doctorate in criminal justice. He then went into business and his computer company Shin Corporation, founded 1983, is now a telecommunications empire.

Thaksin founded the Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) party in 1998. It promised free medical care and debt relief to farmers. Many were surprised that a wealthy mogul should campaign against the Bangkok elite. His tenure in office was controversial, his policies were socially conservative. He reined in Thailand's rollicking nightlife to public acclaim, but his 2003 'War on Drugs' saw over 2,500 deaths in three months. Thaksin encouraged Thai trade with Africa: in 2005, exports of rice and manufactures doubled to US$1.2 billion with Bangkok's most important African trading partner, South Africa.

It was the 2006 sale of his family's stake in Shin Corporation, by then a key national business, that tipped the scales against Thaksin. Though legal, the sale offended for two reasons: the family avoided tax and their shares went to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. When Thaksin attended the United Nations General Assembly in September 2006, the military led a bloodless coup that left him in exile. In October 2008, he was convicted in absentia of corruption.

Thaksin might have enjoyed a comfortable exile but he provoked his successors. After anti-government protests in Bangkok encouraged by him led to the cancellation of April's Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting, the government revoked his passport. As Thaksin's residency options dwindle, some suggest he may move to Central African Republic. In late April 2009, he appeared in Liberia. He brought along representatives of Black Pearl Capital, a Dubai-based investment firm, for exploratory meetings with Vice-President Joseph Boakai and National Investment Commission Chairman Richard Tolbert. The sectors that may be targeted by Black Pearl are agriculture, hydrocarbons and mining.