Thailand investigates Thaksin VIP incarceration..."I never sleep in prison".

Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission, the NACC, has launched an investigation into former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's VIP incarceration, local media reported.

According to local media such as the Bangkok Post and the Nation, 12 officials will be investigated over allegations that former Prime Minister Thaksin was kept in a hospital instead of a prison.

Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission says it has secured sufficient evidence and witnesses to the allegation that Thaksin was admitted to a police hospital for 180 days without serious illness.

Thaksin, who became prime minister in 2001, left the country ahead of a trial on corruption charges after being ousted in a 2006 coup.

Former Prime Minister Thaksin returned home on August 22 last year, when Theta Tawishin of Phatai Party was elected prime minister after 15 years of fleeing the country.

Thaksin, who was sentenced to eight years in prison by the court shortly after returning home on charges of abuse of authority, was immediately imprisoned, but was transferred to a police hospital on the same night for treatment such as high blood pressure.

Since then, the sentence has been reduced to one year due to royal pardons, and he was paroled in February, six months after his imprisonment.

In the end, former Prime Minister Thaksin was released without spending a night in prison, and controversy over preferential treatment grew as he was reported to have stayed in a VIP room equipped with air conditioning and sofas at a police hospital.

Thaksin is considered the most influential politician in Thailand, while Patton Tan Shinawatra, the current prime minister and leader of the ruling party, is Thaksin's youngest daughter.

Former Prime Minister Thaksin, who was on parole, was fully free with a royal pardon on August 17, a day after Patton Tan was elected prime minister.