Pong Sarasin has brought his chairmanship of Shin Corp to an end by resigning, effective this past Monday, just two weeks after Thai police agreed to prosecute only Surin Upatkoon in the Kularb Kaew-related nominee investigation, letting Pong off the hook.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Shin's board gave no reasons for its chairman's decision to quit. However, it is believed Pong's move followed the announcement that he would not be prosecuted as a result of the nominee investigation.

The decision not to prosecute sparked some surprise, given that Pong was Kularb Kaew's founder and Malaysia-based tycoon Surin did not appear as a Kularb Kaew shareholder until some months after the historic Shin takeover. Speculation is rife that Pong used his family's influence to get off the hook.

Pong became Shin's chairman on January 23, 2006 - the same day that Temasek-related Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings announced the acquisition of a major stake in Shin. He was reportedly invited to Government House for a meeting with then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who asked him to take over the Shin chairmanship from Bhanapot Damapong.

"He asked me, and I didn't know how to say no," Pong reportedly told friends.

Bhanapot was among five members of the Shinawatra and Damapong clans who sold a combined 43 per cent stake in Shin for Bt73.3 billion. After the sale, he quit his post at Shin.

Pong appeared as a key player in the takeover, as one of the major shareholders of Kularb Kaew, which in turn is a major shareholder of Cedar Holdings.

After his injection of Bt2.7 billion into Kularb Kaew in March 2006, Surin ended up owning 68 per cent of the company, while Pong's stake was diluted from 30 per cent to 3 per cent. However, while Surin now faces prosecution, Pong and another businessman, Suphadej Poonpipat, who owned 20 per cent of Kularb Kaew in the beginning, are not.

Pong maintained throughout that he held the shares in Kularb Kaew "for a party" and was ready to leave as early as possible.

The National Police Bureau has been in charge of the nominee investigation. Although the Commerce Ministry earlier found that nominees had been used in the Shin deal, its case has gone nowhere after six months.

Paisal Puechmongkol, spokesman for the Police and Human Rights Committee of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), yesterday threatened to have the NLA set up an extraordinary committee to investigate the delay. He asked for a police report by the end of next week.

A National Police Bureau spokesman yesterday said Pol Lt-General Pijarn Jittirat, who is in charge of the investigation, is expected to report to the police chief by the end of this week before forwarding the case to the Attorney-General's Office.

"We're doing our best, but most documents involved are in a foreign language and need translation," the spokesman said.

Replacing Pong as Shin chairman is existing director Virach Aphimeteetamrong.

Virach has been an independent director of Shin since 2001. From 1999-2003, he was chairman of the public accounting firm Virach and Associates and dean of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy.

Pong's resignation comes amid one of Shin's worst years in terms of financial results.

The company posted a consolidated first-quarter loss of Bt1.7 billion against a net profit of Bt2.2 billion in the same period last year. Shin attributes the net loss mainly to the depreciation of its media and consumer-finance businesses. Impairment losses of the operating assets of its media business amounted to Bt1.97 billion.

On March 6, iTV - 53-per-cent owned by Shin - had its broadcasting licence revoked by the PM's Office.

Exacerbating the situation is a lower profit contribution from its flagship subsidiary, Advanced Info Service (AIS). In the first quarter, AIS contributed Bt1.55 billion to Shin, down from Bt2.26 billion in last year's first quarter.

Shin's share price closed at Bt28.50 yesterday, up from Bt27.50.