Published on February 01, 2006

I will certainly get lynched for this, but shall we just forget about the alleged unpaid taxes by the prime minister’s family? Surely the money could have built thousands of schools or fed the poor billions of free meals, but with half the state’s employees stopping their routine work trying to figure out how to defend the leader, maybe it’s time we cut our losses and got on with it.

And don’t get exasperated by the fact that our government agencies have been hell-bent on justifying the existence of an obscure company that is not supposed to be there in the first place. Obscure as it is, Ample Rich Investments has been there all the time. If our authorities didn’t want to do anything then, why should we expect them to do something now?

The Constitution Court in 2001 didn’t even cast its eyes on Ample Rich when it acquitted Thaksin Shinawatra of share concealment charges. The Anti-Money Laundering Organisation insisted this week there was no need to investigate a possible breach of its laws (as opposed to the urgency shown in probing journalists’ bank accounts when the agency received an anonymous letter in 2002). As for the Revenue Department, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, they have all but called us idiots whenever an alarm was raised over possible tax avoidance and share manipulation.

It seems that those government authorities, who were acting like sedated snails when the Shin Corp controversy was cooking, are working at the speed of light now in order to assure the public that the takeover deal was as transparent and honest as it can be. They are apparently going through every page of every law book, in order to find loopholes, not references. And every response to public scepticism has toed the prime minister’s line: Why is it that when others do it, there are no questions asked, but when Thaksin does it, he has to pay taxes?

If the Constitution could be spurned without regret in 2001 through Thaksin’s acquittal of share concealment charges, twisting the laws and bending the rules now will be a piece of cake. It would require a masterful scriptwriter to convince the public that Thaksin acted in good faith when he set up an offshore company to buy his own shares, which were eventually sold back to his children, who then sold them for an obscene profit. The point is there is no need to convince anyone. Dr Suvarn Valaisathien can tell us the biggest joke we have ever heard at today’s press conference, but government authorities will treat whatever he says as the sacred truth.

Dr Suvarn, who represents the prime minister’s family in the Shin deal, might have had a sleepless night last night, but our check-and-balance mechanisms are such that whatever he says doesn’t matter. The National Counter Corruption Commission cannot function at the moment. Parliamentary impeachment won’t happen. If this whole saga comes to a point where the Shinawatras are ready to pay a Bt20 million fine, we should bite their hands off.

Exhausting, isn’t it, being Thai citizens this time around? Apart from our daily struggle, we have to help the Revenue Department check the tax laws, remind the Stock Exchange that some big-lot transactions might be worth looking at, and plead with upholders of the law and the Constitution to read what they are supposed to protect.

If you want to cry (I don’t recommend it), don’t cry for the alleged unpaid taxes. Do it for the helpless system that let it happen. But if you can, enjoy the show. I for one can’t wait for Dr Suvarn’s press conference and response from the clowns who run the agencies concerned.

The story of Shin Corp shares has been a farce from Day One, when they were put in the account of servants of the Shinawatra family, with allegations about insider trading and tax evasion, so the way it’s ending shouldn’t be any surprise.

And laugh out loud the next time Thaksin says you envy his wealth. His wife had to take the blame when he first was accused of concealing assets, and now it’s his two innocent children’s turn to go through an undeserved political storm. If the kids are really to be fall guys, it won’t be a question of his legitimacy as prime minister, but a matter of his dignity as a father. Forget the taxes issue and try to be happy. If you still can’t, here’s some wishful thinking: People are saying the Shinawatras are getting away with the dubious Temasek deal scot-free, but the real cost they have to pay may have just started to accumulate.

Tulsathit Tapthim

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