We'd ask for Thaksin to be sent back : PM

"I have talked with Hun Sen several times and he's told me that he's Thaksin's friend, but he will separate friendship from duty and international affairs," Abhisit said.

"I have told Hun Sen that anyone who [is] appointed to an important position must separate personal relations [from official business]," he told reporters.

Pheu Thai adviser Chavalit Yongchaiyudh broke the news about Hun Sen's invitation following his visit to Phnom Phen on Wednesday.

Abhisit said the government would seek to have Thaksin returned if he ever set foot in the neighbouring country.

"Once Thaksin enters Cambodia the extradition process will begin. If Cambodia failed to comply with (the) treaty, that would be another story," he said.

 Hun Sen would be attending the Asean Summit at the weekend and he hoped to meet him then, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said he was not surprised at the friendship between Hun Sen and Thaksin.

But "Thailand will make the extradition request if Thaksin is provided with a permanent shelter in Cambodia," he said.

Thaksin said he greatly appreciated Hun Sen for welcoming him to the country and coming up with the idea of building a nice home for him.

"I have to express deepest thanks to Prime Minister Hun Sen for saying in public that I am his friend. I also would like to thank him for arranging me a house," Thaksin said in his Tweet from Thaksinlive.

Sirisak Tiyaphan, director-general of the Office of Attorney-General's Foreign Affairs Department, said the two countries signed an extradition treaty in 1998.

The Foreign Ministry had already asked police to keep track of Thaksin's whereabouts and if they knew that he lived in Cambodia, the ministry would request the Cambodian government to send him back, he said.

 But even if the Thai government followed correctly the procedures indicated in the treaty, and the Cambodian government decided not to honour the request, Thaksin would be left in that country.