The Commerce Min-istry said yesterday it would need a few more months to reach a conclusion on whether Kularb Kaew Co Ltd, which indirectly owns Shin Corp, was a proxy of Singapore's investment arm Temasek Holdings.

Yanyong Phuangrach, deputy permanent secretary, said the ministry's investigation had been further delayed because he had just set up a working committee to examine all the details.

The committee consists of representatives from the Bank of Thailand, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Business Development Depart-ment and the Intellectual Prop-erty Department.

Yanyong, as chairman of the committee, will call the first meeting on Monday.

The Business Development Department had planned to wrap up the investigation last month, but Yanyong said the committee would have to spend some time to pore over the information now that the Business Development Department had handed over the preliminary findings to the ministry earlier this week.

The major shareholders of the company submitted additional data covering more than 200 pages to Deputy Commerce Minister Preecha Laohapong-chana on Thursday. Earlier, the department said it would not accept any documents from the company submitted after the deadline.

Orajit Singkalavanich, director-general of the Business Development Department, earlier said that the legal staff of the ministry should have announced the findings of the investigation before the second week of this month. Orajit, who is due to retire in two months, could not be reached for comment.

If the probe proves that Kularb Kaew is a nominee of Tema-

sek, Kularb Kaew's Thai shareholders would be liable to jail terms and penalties as prescribed in Article 36 of the Alien Business Act.

Yanyong said the additional 200 pages recently submitted by the company explained the relationship between Thai shareholders and foreigners.

"The take-over was something that Thais were not familiar with, so we need some time to look through it, because the case will serve as a precedent for future nominee cases," he said.

"We have to show facts to prove whether we should pursue the case in court. Our findings should indicate the facts, instead of deciding whether the company violated the law. The court will use our findings to rule on the case," he added.

The points for consideration in deciding if the company was acting on behalf of foreigners include share-transaction information, returns on investment, management authority, voting rights and the relationship between the alleged criminals and the shareholders.

The ministry will also have to see whether the company's Thai shareholders have done anything that constitutes conspiring with foreigners in Thailand.

The Business Development Department started investigating the case in February by looking at shareholding structure in terms of Thais and foreigners, share payments, sources of capital, administrative and management power, the right to withdraw funds and benefits for Thai and foreign shareholders.

The department reviewed 800 pages of evidence from the company, a bank and agencies and interviewed the directors, shareholders and staffers of the agencies during its examination.

Yanyong said he had asked representatives of the central bank and SEC to sit on the committee to see whether stock speculation had been involved in the transactions.