Former Democrat MP Watchara Petthong has submitted a petition to the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), urging it to expedite the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra over his failure to pay 17 billion baht in tax allegedly owed to the Revenue Department.
The tax liability relates to the sale of 329 million Shin Corporation shares to his two children, Panthongtae and Pinthongtha, at one baht per share, despite the shares trading at 48.25 baht each on the stock market at the time.
The shares were sold through Ample Rich Investment, an offshore entity registered in the British Virgin Islands by Thaksin. No tax was paid on the transaction, despite repeated demands from the Revenue Department.
Watchara claims that the statute of limitations in the case will expire on March 27 next year and that the OAG must file the bankruptcy petition before then.
In response to Watchara’s petition, OAG spokesman Prayut Petchkun said the matter had been forwarded to the Prosecution Office for Bankruptcy on September 30. The office’s director-general had also appointed a panel to handle the case.
According to Next News, Somkuan Wongsawat, a Revenue Department official acting on behalf of the department’s director-general, has asked the attorney-general to appoint a panel of prosecutors to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Thaksin over his failure to pay the 17 billion baht in tax.
In 1999, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders ruled that Pinthongtha and Panthongtae had acted as nominees for Thaksin. The ruling found that the proceeds from the share sale had not been included in their tax assessments and held Thaksin responsible for the tax liability.
Thaksin subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Revenue Department in the Central Tax Court, seeking an injunction to prevent the seizure or attachment of his assets. He argued that he had already paid 46 billion baht in tax on the sale of Shin Corporation shares to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and that the additional tax demand amounted to double taxation.
Next News reported that Revenue Department officials had examined and assessed Thaksin’s bank accounts, land, vehicles and stockholdings at a combined value of 200 million baht.
The officials also found that a private jet was not owned by Thaksin.
Kaewsan Atibodhi, a former member of the Assets Scrutiny Committee, said the OAG and public prosecutors should not delay proceedings and should bring the case before the Bankruptcy Court without further delay.
