Suvarn tries to fill in the Ample holes
Lawyer Suvarn Valaisathien, who acts as a spokesman for the Shinawatra and Damapong families, said yesterday that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family abided by all laws and tax regulations relating to Ample Rich Investments Ltd and the sell-off of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings.
According to Suvarn, Ample Rich was set up by Thaksin on March 12, 1999 as an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands in preparation for the listing of Shin Corp shares on the US stock market. Thaksin transferred 32.92 million shares of Shin Corp to Ample Rich. Later, after Shin Corp reduced the par value of its stock from Bt10 to Bt1, Ample Rich’s holding of Shin Corp shares rose to 329 million shares.
Suvarn said the plan to list Shin Corp on the Nasdaq exchange never materialised because of the downturn in that market.
Prior to the January 2001 general election, Thaksin transferred all his shares in Ample Rich to his son, Panthongtae. The transaction took place on December 1, 2000.
“On this matter, the Thai SEC made an inquiry on July 11, 2001 and Ample Rich sent a letter to the Thai authorities on July 25, 2001 confirming the share sale by Thaksin to his son,” Suvarn said.
On May 15, 2005, Ample Rich’s shareholder structure changed when Pinthongta was given 20 per cent of the company.
On January 20, 2006, Ample Rich sold 329.2 million Shin Corp shares - 164.6 million each to Panthongtae and Pinthongta - outside the Thai stock exchange for Bt1 apiece.
Suvarn said the prime minister’s children wanted to bring the money into the country and, as the sellers and the buyers were the same people, there were no insider-trading violations.
On January 23, Panthongtae and Pinthongta joined other members of the Shinawatra and Damapong families to sell a combined 1.4 billion shares of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings of Singapore in Thailand’s largest ever corporate takeover.
However, three days earlier, on January 20, Panthongtae and Pinthongta had informed the SEC that they bought the Shin Corp stocks from Ample Rich through the stock exchange. Suvarn said this was an error on their part in filling in a document.
As for the tax issues, Panthongtae and Pinthongta asked the Revenue Department on September 21, 2005 about whether there would be any tax involved if Ample Rich were to sell the Shin Corp stocks to them at Bt1 per share.
Suvarn said the transaction was not subject to any tax because Ample Rich sold out the stocks at their original cost, and without profits there could be no taxation. Later, the two sold the Shin shares they had acquired from Ample Rich to nominees of Temasek Holdings at Bt49.25 a share, without having to pay any tax
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