Finance Permanent Secretary Lavaron Sangsnit said today that the Revenue Department, the Office of Attorney General and the Legal Execution Department will be involved in the collection imprisoned former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s 17.6 billion baht in unpaid personal income tax.
The tax division of the Supreme Court has overturned the ruling of the Court of Appeals of Specialized Cases, which spared Thaksin from paying the tax, due on the sale of Shin Corporation equity to Singapore’s Temasek Holding Company.
Lavaron said he is yet to receive a full report from the Revenue Department about the next steps.
He explained that the legal process may involve seizure of Thaksin’s overseas assets, if there are any, which would be the responsibility of the Office of the Attorney-General. The auction of the assets would will be the responsibility of the Legal Execution Department.
The background and timeline of this controversial case is as follows:
• April 10, 1998 - Thaksin owned 32,920,000 shares in Shin Corp Public Company.
• March 12, 1999- Thaksin set up a company in the British Virgin Islands, ‘Ample Rich Investment Company’, with USD$50,000 registered capital and 50,000 shares at a par value of one US dollar. Only one share was paid up. Thaksin was then the only shareholder, holding one share.
• June 11, 1999 - Ample Rich bought 32,920,000 Shin Corp shares from Thaksin, at the par value of 10 baht per share through the Thai stock market.
• February 2, 2000 - Ample Rich added Thaksin’s son Panthongtae as a director.
• December 1, 2000 - Thaksin transferred his one share in Ample Rich to Panthongtae.
• August 29, 2001 - Shin Corp reduced the par value of its shares to one baht and increased its shares tenfold, to 329,200,000 shares.
• May 16, 2005 - Ample Rich demanded payment of four shares at one dollar each. Panthongtae bought three more shares and her sister, Pinthongtha, bought one share. Panthongtae, Pinthongtha and Kanchana Honghern became new directors. The company then sold all the Shin Corp shares to Panthongtae and Pinthongtha at one baht each off market.
• January 23, 2006- Panthongtae and Pinthongtha sold all their Shin Corp equity, worth 73 billion baht, to Singapore’s Temasek Holding Company, through the SET, without paying any capital gain tax.
An investigation committee, set up by the military junta which overthrew the Thaksin administration, ruled that the income from the sale of Shin Corp shares to Temasek by the two Shinawatra siblings was subject to taxation, in accordance with Section 39 of the Revenue Code.
• March 28, 2017 - The Revenue Department sent a tax demand to Thaksin, which included fines and interest, totalling 17.6 billion baht.
• April 25, 2017 - Thaksin challenged the Revenue Department’s tax appraisal by taking the case to the Central Tax Court.
Both the Central Tax Court and Court of Appeals of Specialised Cases ruled that the former prime minister did not have to pay the tax because the Revenue Department’s tax appraisal was unlawful.
