Latest development:

Aug 14: The Assets Examination Committee issued its 11th freeze order on the assets - worth Bt232 million - of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family, AEC spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said.

 August 9: Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra filed a request with the Assets Examination Committee through his lawyers to unfreeze his family's assets worth more than Bt40 billion.

August 6: Committee spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said the assets were in two funds, each worth Bt100 million, and handled by Kasikorn Asset Management. Bhanapot is a brother-in-law of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

 The committee has imposed 10 separate assets freeze on accounts held by the Shinawatra family.

August 2: Pojaman will file a civil lawsuit today against the Assets Examina-tion Committee, seeking Bt50 billion in damages from the probe panel over the AEC's freeze on her bank accounts pending investigation into alleged wrongdoing and corruption by the deposed prime minister, his immediate family and relatives.

July27: A team of lawyers for deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra  demanded that the Assets Examination Committee unfreeze Bt2.2 billion of his family's assets within seven days.

July 24: Noppadol Pattama, lawyer to Thaksin, said a team of lawyers led by Somporn Pongsuwan would ask the OAG to revoke the AEC's orders that froze a total of Bt50 billion in accounts belonging to Pan-thongtae and Pinthongta Shi-nawatra and Bhanapot Dama-pong.

July 23: The Assets Examination Committee issued its ninth order to freeze Bt1.647 billion more from the family of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

July 23: The Assets Examination Committee (AEC)  decided to file a complaint at Bang Sue police station accusing Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, her son and two others of violating anti-graft laws by refusing to testify on the Shin Corp share sale

July 23: The Criminal Court trial into alleged tax evasion by Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, her brother and her secretary yesterday heard allegations the state was prejudiced against the defendants.

For three hours defence counsel grilled Assets Examination Committee member Sak Korsaengruang on cross-examination.

Sak denied assertions the committee was biased and insisted it was objective and had no dispute with the defendants or Thaksin Shinawatra, the husband of Pojaman.

 July 19: Lawyers for deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra sued the special anti-corruption panel, demanding more than Bt50 billion in damages for the panel’s orders to freeze up to Bt65 billion of Shinawatra family assets.

The lawsuit, filed with the Civil Court, seeks a massive amount of compensation from the chairman and 11 other members of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) for “illegally” freezing Thaksin’s assets

July 18: AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem said the committee will file a lawsuit against Pojaman Shinawatra for alleged tax evasion in the Shin Corp share sale even though she has refused to give statements.

Pojaman is scheduled to give testimony before the AEC July 19 over the Shin Corp share sale. Nam said that if she does not turn herself in as summoned, she might face legal action

July 17: A special anti-graft subcommittee headed by Auditor-General Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka will seek to freeze another Bt500 million in Shinawatra-family assets.

July 16: The AEC froze another Bt1.9 billion it says belongs to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

It is the eighth time the committee has moved to suspend use of cash in accounts linked to the former PM.

 The committee said the money was part of proceeds from the sale of Shin Corp shares by the Shinawatra family. Its spokesman, Sak Korsaengruang, said the amount now frozen under its order totals Bt65 billion

July 15 AEC spokesman Sak Korsaengruang refuted an allegation that members would try to pocket the reward offered for tip-offs on assets belonging to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

July 15: Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka will today push for an eighth freeze order worth Bt500 million on three cashier's cheques belonging to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's son Panthongtae, a source said yesterday.

 Jaruvan will seek a ruling from the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to freeze the Bt500 million, which was part of Bt800 million that AEC chairman Nam Yimyaem issued an order to freeze on July 9.

July 13:  The AEC froze three more bank accounts worth Bt500 million belonging to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's son.

July 5: The Criminal Court  threw out a lawsuit filed by a company linked to frozen assets of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, saying the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) had a mandate to act on suspicious wealth.

July 4: The Assets Examination Committee yesterday issued the fifth freeze order on a further Bt2.6 billion of proceeds from the sale of Shin Corp shares - in an account belonging to Bhanapot Dama-pong, Thaksin's brother-in-law.

The AEC found that before June 4, Bhanapot used Bt2.6 billion to buy 28.9 million Kasikornbank's shares, 15.9 million shares of SC Asset, and 57 million shares of Thanachart Fund.

July 3: Nopadol Patama, a key legal adviser to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra challenged graft busters to examine his client's asset statements, arguing that the takeover of an English football club was not financed by hidden wealth.

July 3: The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) threatened to have an arrest warrant issued for Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra if she refuses to report to the agency and testify on the 2006 Shin Corp sale.

July3: A letter, purportedly from deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday threatened legal action against the Assets Examination Com-mittee (AEC) if it does not revoke the freeze on his bank accounts and halt investigations within three days, a source said.

July 2: Finance Ministry permanent secretary Suparat Kawatkul is among seven state officials who the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) yesterday decided to investigate for possible malfeasance in connection with tax payments by the Shinawatra family over its sale of Shin Corp last year.

June 28: Revenue Department source said  Thaksin Shinawatra's children Panthongtae and Pinthongta are now subject to personal income taxes plus fines of Bt11.64 billion following their failure to pay taxes and fines since April 2.

June 25: The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) froze another Bt4.7 billion of the proceeds from the sale of Shin Corp shares by the Shinawatra family to Temasek Holdings of Singapore, bringing the total amount frozen so far to Bt64 billion.

Spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said the AEC's fourth suspension order applied to two accounts in Bangkok Bank that held Bt2.7 billion and Bt1 billion and a Siam Commercial Bank account holding Bt1 billion. All the accounts belonged to Bhanapot Damapong, brother-in-law of ousted premier Thakisn Shinawatra.

 The AEC is still trying to locate Bt4.275 billion of the Bt19 billion transferred to Bhanapot from the Shin Corp deal.

June 20: The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) suspend-ed six more bank accounts yesterday - with almost Bt5 billion in them - the bulk of it transferred from a Pinthongtha Shinawatra account that held proceeds from the Shin Corp share sale.

June 18: A freeze was ordered on seven more bank accounts to which more than Bt8 billion was transferred from accounts linked to the Shin Corp share sale that were frozen last week.

 One of the targeted bank accounts belongs to Bhanapot Damapong, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's brother-in-law, and another is held in the name of Chinnisa Wongsawat, the daughter of Thaksin's sister Yaowapa.

June 18: Pojaman asks Assets Examination Committee on Tuesday to postpone giving testimony on the Shin share sale because she is sick and given treatment in a foreign country.

 June 13: More than Bt8 billion was withdrawn from six accounts in Thai-land held by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, his family and relatives a week before the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) ordered the freezing of the accounts.

A report from the Bank of Thailand (BOT) said that between June 4 and 11, more than Bt8 billion was withdrawn from six of the 21 accounts, leaving a combined balance of around Bt43 billion.

June 11: The Assets Exami-nation Committee (AEC) yesterday ordered a freeze on all bank accounts in Thailand held by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman, as well as 21 other local accounts in which the proceeds of last year's sale of Shin Corp shares to Singapore's Temasek Holdings were deposited.

 April2: A sub-panel of the Asset Examina-tion Committee has concluded that Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra owe more than Bt10 billion in tax in connection with the Shin Corp deal.

Viroj said Panthongtae and Pinthongta must pay tax of a combined Bt5.691 billion from the proceeds of Bt16.295 billion they earned on January 23, 2006 after selling their Shin stock holdings to Temasek of Singapore.

Background:

 After the Shinawatra and Damapong families had decided to sell their entire 49-per-cent stake in Shin Corp to Temasek, Panthongtae and Pinthongta were involved in a series of transactions outside and inside the capital market. The zig-zag transactions resulted in the Shinawatras paying no tax at all for the stock sale, igniting a political furore that signalled the beginning of the end for the Thaksin government.