Bangkok put billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on trial for corruption yesterday, almost two years after he was toppled from power in a military coup.
Thaksin and his wife Pojaman were absent from the Thai Supreme Court for the opening of a legal saga that could put them behind bars for 13 years.
The case is only one of many launched against Thaksin and his allies, and threatens to bog down a new government - led by Thaksin loyalists - which is already facing mass protests in the streets.
The court is considering whether Thaksin, a tycoon who owns English soccer team Manchester City, illegally arranged for his wife to buy a prime 5.3-hectare chunk of Bangkok real estate for just one-third of its appraised value.
'We are confident that our evidence will be enough to prove in the court that Thaksin and his wife are not guilty,' their lawyer Anek Khamchum said.
Thaksin was ousted from power by royalist generals in the military, who accused him of widespread corruption, undermining the nation's democracy and insulting Thailand's revered king.
