Yesterday, Korbsak Sabhavasu, an executive member of the Democrat Party, called on authorities to investigate the tax payments of Ample Rich, a company set up by Thaksin and incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

Korbsak said that as a shareholder, Ample Rich must have received Bt1.910 billion in dividend pay-outs from Shin Corp over a period of four years - before Shin Corp was sold to Temasek of Singapore.

By law dividend gains are subject to 10 per cent tax, leaving Ample Rich with Bt1.7 billion.

"There must be cheques payable to Ample Rich amounting to Bt1.7 billion. My question is, who cashed these cheques because Ample Rich is located overseas?" he said.

Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra, the two children of the deposed premier, are under investigation over whether they failed to pay tax amounting to more than Bt10 billion after they sold their 329 million Shin Corp stocks to Temasek at Bt49.25 a share.

Thaksin transferred ownership of Ample Rich to Panthongtae and Pinthongta, who are also executives of this shell company.

Ample Rich sold 329 million shares to Panthongtae and Pinthongta for Bt1 a share before the two sold the shares to Temasek the following trading day on January 23, 2006 for Bt49.25 a share.

Korbsak was questioning the actual owner of Ample Rich. "If the dividend pay-out was put into Panthongtae's account, then we can ask whether he had informed the Revenue Department about the source of his income.

As Ample Rich owned the stocks, the cheques must go into its account. In principle, once Ample Rich got the dividend, the cheque must be sent to it from overseas. This would be subject to 15 per cent tax. The Revenue Department must probe whether the tax was paid properly in this case," he said.

Korbsak added that Panthongtae and Pinthongta sought to avoid paying tax by having Ample Rich sell the Shin Corp stocks to them at Bt1 a share before they sold the stocks out for Bt49.25 a share.

"On that day, the market price of Shin Corp was Bt47 a share, so we have to calculate the tax payment at Bt47 a share, not Bt1 a share. The Bt49.25 a share is irrelevant because it was the price Temasek paid for the stocks. Since Ample Rich made Bt14 billion in profits, it had to be subject to 15-30 per cent in tax payment because it invested in Thailand," he said.