The personal secretary of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shina-watra's wife told the Assets Examination Committee yesterday that she had been responsible for transacting the historic Bt73.3-billion sale of Shin Corp shares to Singapore on behalf of the Shinawatra and Damapong families, an AEC source said.

Kanjanapa Honghern said Bhanapot Dama-pong, the brother of Thaksin's wife Pojaman, had taken part in negotiating the deal while she processed the transfers and documentation for the Bhanapot and Shinawatra family members, including Thaksin's children Panthongtae and Pinthongta, as well as Thaksin's sister Yingluck.

Kanjanapa spent seven hours testifying to the AEC on the tax-free Shin Corp share sale a year ago to Singapore's Temasek Holdings. She gave no interviews afterwards to reporters, and those accompanying her said she was recovering from a hysterectomy.

Kanjanapa said she had also handled the purchase of Shin shares by Panthongtae and Pinthongta from Ample Rich Investments Co Ltd for Bt1 each through Swiss bank UBS, although she brought no evidence to prove her claim, the source said.

This move by Kanjanapa raised the question of whether it signalled a new defence strategy for the Shinawatras, as the Ample Rich deal has been cloaked in mystery.

The AEC asked Kanjanapa to submit documents to support her statement later, the source said.

AEC member Klanarong Chantik said the panel had prepared a list of 50-60 questions to ask Kanjanapa, some similar to and some different from the questions put to Panthongtae when he appeared before the panel on Wednesday. The questions went into more detail as Panthongtae claimed that Kanjanapa had handled the deal on his behalf.

Meanwhile,  Airports of Thailand Plc filed a complaint with the AEC, accusing deposed premier Thaksin and former transport minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit of involvement in the alleged corrupt procurement of CTX 9000 bomb scanners for Suvarnabhumi Airport.

AOT president Chotisak Asapaviriya handed the complaint, which linked 22 people to the fraud, to AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem.

Chotisak also filed another complaint accusing Suriya and 16 other people of involvement in the irregular bidding for the new airport's power-distribution project.

Nam said the AEC would set up two sub-committees to look into the cases next week.

Viroj Laohaphan, head of the panel probing the controversial tax-free sale of Shin shares to Temasek, said Kanjanapa had admitted she knew Pranee Wetchapruekpitak, Pojaman's liaison with the Revenue Department, but they had not been close. She said she had not told Pranee to ask the department if the Shin Corp share sale was taxable and did not know why Pranee had written to the department.

Viroj said Kanjanapa had given useful information, made the panel understand the case more clearly and answered the questions that Panthongtae had been unable to answer.

Panthongtae told the AEC that it had been Kanjanapa who took care of the sale of his Shin Corp shares to Temasek Holdings and he had just signed the paperwork.

During his testimony, Panthongtae mostly responded to questions with "I don't know".

Panthongtae's sister Pinthongta is scheduled to testify to the committee on January 24.

Viroj said the panel should be able to conclude its report before March, the deadline for filing annual tax returns.

To avoid the waiting media, Kanjanapa arrived at the AEC's office at 7.35am, though she was due to go before the panel at 10am.

Kanjanapa let Panicha Raksajjatham, one of three people she brought with her, exchange her identification card for a visitor card.

While waiting for Kanjanapa at the entrance of the AEC building, the media found out this fact from Kanjanapa's attorney, Theerapat Srichaiya, who walked into the building alone at about 10am.

Theerapat said he had not been pressured but had not been allowed into the room with Kanjanapa.

He said Bhanapot, in a separate case involving a tax-free Shin Corp share transaction, would not testify to the AEC in person as summoned but through documents and in court.

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan,

Bancha Khaengkhan

The Nation