Paetongtarn Shinawatra elected Thailand’s 31st prime minister

The Shinawatra family has been enjoying more than birthday cake in Hong Kong with revelations that a property deal there netted the clan a 75 million baht windfall.

(Thaksin Shinawatra has sold his three-storey home in the King's Park Hill estate of Hong Kong, shown in this photo on Saturday from a real estate agent's website, (Homes.Mitula.hk). Thaksin bought the home in 2007 for a reported US$27 million, said to be a record Asia price.)

Property filings obtained last week confirm that a 183 million baht mansion in the prestigious King's Park Hill area of Kowloon, owned by Thaksin's daughter Paetongtarn since early 2009, was sold to a Hong Kong private company for 258 million baht early last year - a return of 41%.

The former billionaire was in a celebratory mood this week as he marked his 63rd birthday with a bash in a Kowloon hotel, flanked by several hundred Thai political allies.

Grinning and stretching his arms to embrace friends and supporters under the chandeliers of the ballroom in the new Mira hotel, Thaksin praised the role Hong Kong had played in his years on the run following his ousting in a military coup in 2006 and a two-year jail sentence on abuse of power charges that followed in 2008.

Thai courts seized 47 billion baht of the Thaksin family fortune in 2010, leaving him with an estimated 18.9 billion baht of investments scattered around the world.

''This [Hong Kong] is the place,'' Thaksin said. ''I always come to the place where I can meet with my supporters and friends,'' he said, adding that ''going home is not that serious ... I don't care that much''.

His visitors in Hong Kong reportedly included Thai national police chief Priewphan Damaphong, Thaksin's former brother-in-law. Pol Gen Priewpan's visit has intensified speculation that Thaksin is calling the political shots, rather than his sister.

Ref: Paetongtarn Shinawatra elected Thailand’s 31st prime minister (bangkokpost)