We are not dad's nominees : Oak and Aim

he court drama in the Bt76-billion assets-seizure case against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is about to come to a close.

Panthongtae Shinawatra and Pinthongta Shinawatra yesterday produced a 130-page argument before the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders as part of their concluding statement. They once again asserted that they were the actual shareholders in Shin Corp before the sale to Temasek Holdings of Singapore.

Their combined holdings were worth Bt40 billion. Most importantly, they were not acting as nominees for their parents, they argued.

Earlier, both Thaksin Shinawatra and his ex-wife Pojaman na Pombejra launched a similar defence, amplifying their cases that they had transferred their shares in Shin Corp to their children and siblings well before Thaksin entered politics in 2000. In return for the share transfers, they were paid through promissory notes in instalments.

Before the sale of Shin Corp to Temasek on January 23, 2006, Panthongtae owned 9.8 per cent in the telecom holding company, while his sister Pinthongta had 14.67 per cent. Bhanapot Damapong, Pojaman's elder brother, held 13.49 per cent worth almost Bt20 billion in Shin Corp, compared to 0.67 per cent by Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister.

Ample Rich Investment, Thaksin's offshore firm, held about 10.98 per cent in Shin Corp. Thaksin claimed later that he had set up this offshore company in preparation to take Shin Corp for listing in the Nasdaq in the United States.

Panthongtae and Pinthongta also emerged as beneficiary owners in Ample Rich Investment, sold to them by Thaksin for US$1 (Bt33).

Public prosecutors have argued that the combined 49-per-cent stake in Shin Corp still belonged to Thaksin and Pojaman on January 23, 2006 when the family sold the stake to Temasek for Bt67.7 billion plus a gain of another Bt6.89 billion in dividend payments.

After the military coup on September 19, 2006, the military regime set up the Assets Examination Committee to probe alleged policy corruption by Thaksin.

The AEC ordered a freeze of Bt76 billion of the Shinawatra family, pending the outcome of the suit charging that Thaksin had become unusually wealthy from policy corruption.

The AEC took pains to uncover evidence that the transfer of the shares of Shin Corp from Thaksin and Pojaman to Panthongtae, Pinthongta, Bhanapot and Yingluck represented a cover-up. The four did not use their own money to acquire the shares, at times at par value, from Thaksin and Pojaman.

Payments were also made in promissory notes, the money for which also came from Thaksin or Pojaman in one way or another. Even though technically Pojaman did not hold any Shin Corp stocks, she still received dividend pay-outs from the company, which transferred the money into her bank accounts.

Pojaman transferred Shin Corp shares to Bhanapot at par without paying tax.

Thaksin's transfer of shares to his children, Panthongtae and Pinthongta, were not taxed either, nor the transfer of shares to his sister, Yingluck.

The four recipients of Shin Corp stocks had not realised the monetary gain by selling them out.

No taxmen were present when there were transactions of shares between the British Virgin Islands-registered Ample Rich Investments and Thaksin and Panthongtae and Pinthongta. Thaksin sold Ample Rich, which owned 392 million shares in Shin Corp, to Panthongtae for only $1.

While not yet making any profit from the shares, the four beneficiaries should not pay taxes for non-existent benefits.

Yet, when they sold a combined 49 per cent of the shares to Temasek via the stock market, they did not pay any tax because no tax is levied on stock-market transactions.

The Supreme Court will hand down the verdict on February 26 as to whether Thaksin had concealed his shares through his children and siblings.

If Thaksin were to be found guilty of share concealment, the court would then rule on whether he had committed corruption by introducing policies to benefit the stocks of Shin Corp.