Relationship to Ample Rich a key point as SEC gives Panthongtae, Pinthongta seven days to answer disclosure queries.

ANALYSIS: ‘Clarification’ only adds to the mystery

The Ample Rich affair has taken a bizarre twist. Pinthongta and Panthongtae Shinawatra, the children of the prime minister, have said that prior to their sale last week, they had been holding a total of 329.2 million Shin Corp shares, or a 10.98 per cent stake in the company, in an offshore tax-haven firm, Ample Rich Investments Ltd. Moreover, they had been holding them there for some time before last week’s takeover deal by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

Bt73 billion, tax-free sell-off an ‘innovation in corruption’

The complex and questionable dealings used by the prime minister’s family to pave the way for the Shin Corp sell-off were an “innovation” in corruption, a respected academic said yesterday. Sangsit Piriyarangsan, director of Chandrakasem Rajabhat University’s Good Governance Research Centre, said “this complex form of corruption” involved abuses of legal mechanisms, tax and stock-market experts, foreign nominees, as well as abuses of political authority.

Nine honoured as National artists

The Culture Ministry yesterday unveiled the 2005 National Artists, including self-taught artist Pratuang Emjaroen and another eight from the fine arts, literature and performing arts.