Court confirms frozen assets of Thaksin's children

The court ordered Siam Commercial Bank not to release the frozen funds and cancelled the instruction by the Revenue Department which has demanded the money to pay for income tax liabilities.

The department cited the tax law to try to get hold of the funds although the Assets Examination Committee invoked the graft law to freeze the assets, suspected to be ill-gotten gains.

The judicial ruling has assigned the priority on the graft procedures over the tax obligations. This has in effect kept the suspicious wealth of Bt70 billion amassed by Thaksin and his family under impound until the completion of a separate judicial review by the Supreme Court.

The high court is conducting an inquiry before ruling whether to seize the assets as ill-gotten gains.