The scandal around Thai Prime Minister and his family related to taxation and BVI-registered companies Ample Rich and Win Mark has already been discussed, but the story continues to develop.
The question where Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra deposited his money intrigues the investigators and the public. His relatives earned USD 1.9 billion having sold their telecom empire in January 2006. The investigation of whether Thaksin’s family legitimately paid no tax on its USD 1.9 billion sale of Shin is being carried out.
Auditor-General Jaruwan Maintaka suggests the money is still inside the country. A week after the Prime Minister was ousted in a bloodless coup, he was living in a luxurious apartment in London, while army-appointed generals were conducting a probe regarding alleged corruption by his administration. Cabinet colleagues and their families purportedly abused power to benefit themselves or others.
In accordance with Forbes magazine, Thaksin and his family handle USD 2.2 billion. If they are found, the money could be frozen and ultimately seized. But where’s the finances, the question is.
A foreign news agency reported that 2 planes had carried more than 100 large suitcases when Thaksin had been on trip from September 9 to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Finland for the Asia-Europe meeting before. So, this was before the September 19 coup. One of these was a government-owned plane and the other was chartered from Thai Airways. Air Force Colonel Montol Suchukorn claimed there was nothing unusual about the flight. Each representative of the government carried a few bags. Thai Airways reported that its plane also ferried Thaksin and his entourage to visit summits in Havana and New York from London.
Even if the suitcases on government flights were full of money, it is just impossible to walk into a bank to deposit millions in cash there nowadays.
In 1983, Thaksin and his wife set up a computer dealership that developed into Shin Corp dealing with mobile phones and satellites, media and the Internet. In 2001, he was elected, and after that the conflict of interest allegations persisted. He was claimed to tailor government policy to suit his businesses. In January, the Shinawatra and Damapong families made a the tax-free sale of their 49.6% stake in Shin to Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings for USD 1.9 billion in cash . This caused protests that led to Thaksin’s downfall.
Pridiyathorn Devakula, Bank of Thailand Governor, said that since the deal there had been no unusually large money movements out of Thailand. Under Thai rules, a physical person can transfer USD 1 million per year or USD 10 million a year for investment purposes, out of Thailand not notifying the central bank.
The investigation is going to be deepened including an international search for secret offshore bank accounts.
The Shin investigation revealed a complex web of share transactions between Thaksin’s children that involved holding the British Virgin Islands – registered companies.