Pojamarn Shinawatra returned from exile earlier this month while Mr Thaksin remained overseas.

He has promised to return later this year when he will face similar charges.

The political party formed by Mr Thaksin's associates won last month's general election, the first since the military coup that deposed him in 2006.

It is expected to form a government over the next week.

Political confidante

The men who led Thailand's surprise coup in September 2006 gave themselves a little over a year in office before handing back to a democratic government, which will happen next month.

In that time they expected to find enough evidence of corruption during the administrations of Thaksin Shinawatra, both to justify their action and finish his political career.

But it has proved more difficult than they anticipated - only two relatively minor charges have been brought against Mr Thaksin and his wife, Pojamarn, who is perhaps his closest political confidante.

She arrived back in Thailand last week amid blanket media coverage - it is thought to test the water for an eventual return by Mr Thaksin himself.

He is still very popular in much of the country, and his political fortunes received a huge boost from the victory in last month's election of the People Power Party (PPP), formed by his associates.

The couple could yet face years in prison if found guilty.

The powerful military and royalist cliques behind the coup are relying on the courts and a new constitution to prevent Mr Thaksin and his allies from wielding the kind of unchallenged power they enjoyed when last in office.

Once in government, the PPP has pledged to try to revise the constitution.

There are likely to be several more battles in the year ahead, inside the courts, in parliament and outside, between these two irreconcilable political forces.

(BBC)

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