HONG KONG - THE youngest daughter of fugitive ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has bought a luxury home in Hong Kong, according to public records, in the latest sign the family is expanding its base in the city to monitor the political situation in Thailand.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 22, signed an agreement last month to buy the three-story house at the King's Park Hill development for HK$4.5 million Hong Kong dollars (S$872,165), according to land registry records obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The daughter began negotiating the deal for the property on a wooded hill on the Kowloon peninsula in early November before her father and mother, Pojaman Shinawatra, divorced, said Henry Ng, the real estate agent who handled the transaction.

Mr Ng said he never met the buyer, who signed the agreement Nov 24, and only dealt with her representatives. The entire transaction, which usually takes two to three months, has yet to be finalised but the house is considered bought, he said.

The agent said the 307 sq m home was bought at a bargain price that was 20.8 per cent lower than the previous transaction in the estate. He said since the deal, the price has already risen by 11 per cent to about HK$5 million.

Since Thaksin was ousted from power in a 2006 military coup, he has been living in exile mostly in London, Hong Kong and Dubai. He also made one five-month return to Thailand early this year. Hong Kong has been one of the former telecom tycoon's most popular perches for observing the political scene in Thailand, just a three-hour flight away.

Forbes Asia magazine put Thaksin's estimated net worth at US$400 million in July after Thai authorities froze more than US$2 billion of his family's assets pending the outcome of corruption cases against him.

He was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court in October to two years in prison for violating a conflict of interest law while he was prime minister. He had his British visa revoked last month while he was travelling.

Thaksin reportedly has a flat in London and a house in Surrey, south of London. -- AP