Telecommunication tycoon-turned politician said there might be alleged baseless evidence and some people would even try to bend the law just to justify the Sept 19 coup that ousted him, he said.

 "But finally if it goes to the justice system, to the courts, I don't think there will be anyone guilty. We have done a lot to protect it, but corruption has become an excuse for every coup and some juntas in the past turn out to be more corrupt that the regimes they topple down," he said in an interview with Al Jazeera English TV station in Dubai last week and aired Wednesday.

The military, which cited wide spread corruption and power abuse during Thaksin's five-year reign for staging the coup, has established the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to investigate alleged wrongdoing.

Thaksin, the longest serving elected premier in the country's history, received massive support from the rural population with his populist policies but allegation of corruption and cronyism led to massive street demonstrations against him last year.

Among the alleged corruption cases are the controversial sale of Thaksin's family-owned Shin Corporation, which controls various businesses like telecommunication and aviation, to Singapore's Temasek Holdings in January, 2006 and became the catalyst for his ouster.

Others are the construction of the Suvarnabhumi Airport which is facing numerous repairs just five months after opening, the airport link and the King Power duty free shops at the airport.

"Democracy must be returned to the people and power should not remain in the hands of some groups who tried to decide the destiny of the whole population themselves. And the Thai people are very patient, but their tolerance period is not that long," he said.

Bernama, Malaysia's national news agency, quoted Thaksin as telling the station if the junta was not doing it, he believed that the people would not allow them to hold the power.

He said as this was the first time that the military had staged a coup against a popular government, they should not waste time in justifying the coup but instead should take the time to reconcile the differences of the people of two sides.

During the interview, Thaksin said he was willing to help in the reconciliation process as he wanted to see Thailand moving forward.

The Nation