Prosecutors from Thailand arrived in London on Friday to find ways of extraditing ousted billionaire prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the new owner of Manchester City football club, on corruption charges.

The visit to see British officials is the latest move in a campaign by the military junta that deposed Mr Thaksin in September last year in a bloodless coup while he was in New York at the UN general assembly.

He has since lived in exile in London, with a £4.5m mansion in Weybridge, Surrey, and a rented flat in Park Lane owned by his friend and Fulham FC owner Mohamed Al Fayed. In June he bought Manchester City for £81.6m and installed two of his three children on the board.

Warrants for the arrest of Mr Thaksin, 58, and his wife, Potjaman, have been issued in Thailand in the past few weeks and £1.3bn of family assets in the country have been frozen.

Mr Thaksin has repeatedly denied the charges, claiming they are politically motivated. A spokesman from his representatives at Bell Pottinger said he was aware of the officials' visit but had no further comment.