Key facts about Thaksin Shinawatra

Tanks surrounded Thailand's Government House on Tuesday and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared a state of emergency in Bangkok amid signs of the first attempted coup in the southeast Asian nation in 15 years.

Here are some key facts about Thaksin Shinawatra:

• An ex-telecom tycoon whose businesses thrived on government contracts and concessions, 57-year-old Thaksin is one of Thailand's richest men.
• The sale of his family's stake in the biggest telecoms company, Shin Corp, for a tax-free $1.9 billion, inflamed a street campaign against him earlier this year.
• Thaksin, the first prime minister to lead an elected government through a full term in Thailand's coup-prone history, called a snap general election in April 2006 to counter a street campaign by foes accusing him of corruption and abuse of power, charges he denied.
• An opposition boycott rendered it inconclusive and the courts declared it unlawful, leaving Thailand with a caretaker government and no functioning parliament.
• Born into a family of ethnic Chinese silk merchants in 1949 in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Thaksin became a policeman in 1973 before winning a state scholarship to study for a masters degree in criminal justice at Eastern Kentucky University.
• However, he quit the force in 1987 to go into business, establishing a small computer dealership with his wife Potjaman that started selling hardware to the Thai police force.
• The former police colonel credits his interest in politics to his father, an MP for their northern home town of Chiang Mai. After graduating from the Police Cadet Academy, he took masters and doctorate degrees in criminal justice at two U.S. universities.
• The leader of the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party he founded in 1998 is not renowned for diplomatic finesse. He labelled Washington a "useless friend" after the US criticism of his human rights record and declaring "the UN is not my father" after stern words from the world body over his bloody war on drugs.