AEC spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said the panel would propose that the AEC file a complaint with the police calling on the Revenue Department to collect the tax from Bannaphot.

Bannaphot became Pojaman's elder brother after her parents adopted him.

Pojaman transferred 4.5 million shares in the listed company Shinawatra Computer and Communication to Bannaphot from her maid, Duangta Wongpakdi, who had been her nominee. The shares had a market value of Bt164 apiece when the transaction was signed on November 7, 1997, putting the value of the deal at Bt738 million.

The shares were among the assets that landed then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the Constitution Court in a bitter asset-concealment case. Thaksin was accused of concealing his wealth by transferring shares to his domestic staff. He was later acquitted.

The Revenue Department had earlier ruled that Bannaphot was exempt from paying personal income tax on the shares because the transfer had been conducted in accordance with Article 42 of the Revenue Code.

Pojaman had claimed the share transfer was not an attempt to conceal assets but a wedding gift to her brother.

The explanation met great scepticism as the "gift" was given two years after the wedding.

The AEC will also press the Revenue Department to seek a jail term of up to seven years for Bannaphot as well as a fine of up to Bt200,000.

If the Revenue Department arrives at a different conclusion than that of the AEC panel, it must provide sound reasons, Sak warned.

"We have arrived at a conclusion that is in accordance with the law. I don't believe the Revenue Department will have a problem [with the conclusion]," he said.

Sources say Bannaphot will have to pay retroactive taxes of Bt546 million, or twice the 37 per cent he was allegedly required to pay.

Meanwhile, a Finance Ministry inspector at the centre of the tax probe involving Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra insisted she acted appropriately and within the limits of her authority when she said the pair were exempt from capital gains tax on a transaction conducted earlier this year.

Benja Luicharoen had written that then prime minister Thaksin's children were not required to pay tax on the windfall they received on Shin shares bought from Ample Rich for Bt1 apiece and later sold for Bt49.25 apiece to Temasek Holdings.

The Revenue Department has since reversed its earlier stance that the pair were not required to pay capital-gains tax on their profits.

Benja said she would testify before the committee investigating the transaction and the department's judgement that no taxes were due.

Meanwhile, former prime ministers Banharn Silapa-archa, Chuan Leekpai and Chavalit Yongchaiyudh have agreed to be questioned by the AEC about Pojaman's land purchase on Ratchadapisek Road.

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan,

Bancha Kaengkhan

The Nation