Thai Court Rules to Seize $1.4 Billion From Thaksin

A supporter of Thaksin Shinawatra walked past a poster showing the fugitive prime minister

FEBRUARY 26, 2010
By PHISANU PHROMCHANYA
The Wall Street Journal

BANGKOK—Thailand's Supreme Court ruled Friday to seize 46 billion baht ($1.4 billion) of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's assets.

The ruling—tied to gains that Mr. Thaksin's family made from selling a stake in Shin Corp. PCL—could anger Mr. Thaksin's supporters and ignite a fresh wave of political upheaval.

According to the verdict from the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, 46.37 billion baht of Mr. Thaksin's frozen assets, plus interest, will be seized.

The judges said they decided on the amount because it was equal to the difference in value of Shin Corp. shares from the date before he came to office and the value when the shares were sold to Singapore's Temasek Holdings in early 2006.

The court ruled the fugitive ex-leader was found to be the actual owner of Shin Corp. shares while in power, which violated the law. Mr. Thaksin also was found guilty of abuse of power for using his authority as the government leader to grant privileges to Shin Corp.'s units.

Ahead of the verdict, Thai shares closed 0.6% higher at 721.37, while the dollar edged down to 33.04 to 33.05 baht from 33.06 to 33.065 baht late Thursday as there were no signs of violence.

Mr. Thaksin was the founder of Shin Corp., and his family earned 76 billion baht tax-free when it sold its stake to Temasek, infuriating his opponents. The family wasn't obligated to sell because of Mr. Thaksin's role as prime minister, a post he had held since 2001, but decided to do so.

The tax-free nature of the deal triggered mass protests and eventually led to a bloodless military coup in September of that year.

Mr. Thaksin's supporters are mostly poor farmers in northern and northeastern provinces, and low-income earners in urban areas. Identified by their red shirts, Thaksin supporters have staged a number of antigovernment rallies over the past year, including riots last April during a summit of the Association of South East Asia Nations. ASEAN leaders fled the venue, humiliating the host Thai government.

Thousands of security forces were deployed across Thailand Friday ahead of the verdict in preparation for any possible violence. Security was also tight at the Supreme Court, but Bangkok was largely operating as normal.

Mr. Thaksin fled Thailand in late 2008 after a court convicted him of abuse of power and sentenced him to two years in prison. He continues to generate enormous divisions in Thailand, often taunting Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from Dubai—where Mr. Thaksin now is based—and addressing supporters by telephone or video-link.

Thai crisis set to turn towards Burma

December 18, 2009
The Nation

Step aside, Cambodia! It's Burma's turn now

The crisis in Thailand is set to take another major turn in the next few days, and this time it will relate to our neighbour to the northwest when the Supreme Court wraps up its hearing on ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's frozen Bt76 billion in assets.

The prosecution hopes its final blow will arrive next Tuesday.

Former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai will testify as a state witness, purportedly to provide the final piece of the jigsaw, proving Thaksin's failure to be honest about his assets was no honest mistake.

The prosecution is confident it has what is needed to prove Thaksin did not relinquish control of his business empire as legally and constitutionally as required when he served as prime minister.

Waratchya Srimachand, assistant secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has told the court there was reliable evidence to prove Thaksin had concealed his massive shareholding in the telecom business - something he was supposed to have given up as head of the government.

Her testimony corroborates findings by the Assets Examination Committee, whose origin has been decried by the Thaksin camp, because it was set up after the September 19, 2006 coup.

The court has reviewed financial documents allegedly indicating stock transactions involving obscure "nominee" firms that held shares in Thaksin's telecom empire were endorsed by the man himself, not his children or even his wife.

The hearing has revisited the infamous Ample Rich and Win Mark. Yet all fishy transactions involving the nominee companies can only prove Thaksin was concealing his assets - an offence that is not enough to justify the seizure of his wealth. The prosecution must prove Thaksin not only failed to give up control of his businesses, but also helped them through suspicious government policies or decisions.

This is where Surakiart comes in. There were several dubious moves made by his government cited by the prosecution, not least the telecom excise tax scheme that greatly affected the industry's playing field, and a few witnesses have testified about them. The ex-foreign minister, though, is being tipped as a star witness because he used to work in the Thaksin Cabinet and was once seen as someone who had the former PM's trust.

Surakiart is expected to testify about the circumstances behind the Thaksin Cabinet's decision to grant controversial Export-Import Bank of Thailand loans to the Burmese junta, or more specifically how the loans jumped from Bt3 billion to Bt4 billion. The money, as has been widely reported, was to be partly used to pay for equipment and services provided by Shin Satellite.

What Surakiart tells the court will be crucial, and testifying the same day will be Klanarong Chantik from the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

These two will be the final witnesses in the case, and the court will conclude the hearing if it does not feel the need to hear more testimony. This means a verdict will most likely come next month, ending a long, painful chapter on Thailand grappling with a very unfamiliar issue: conflicts of interest.

Whatever the verdict is, it should not be mistaken as the beginning of an end. All it will do is simply close one episode, after which many things can happen. Thailand was very immature when the patriarch of one of the biggest business empires was allowed to take political power despite his questionable baggage. With the Supreme Court set to issue a ruling about those mistakes and their costly consequences, the environment is oddly familiar - the nation does not seem to have grown very much since.

Shin Corp's to spend $90 million to develop 3G broadband cellular sevice in Cambodia and Laos

THAICOM'S 3G SERVICE
Khmer, Lao units to receive new budget of US$90 million

Shin Corp's int'l arm eager to expand
April 17, 2008
Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation (Thailand)

Thaicom, formerly Shin Satellite, will spend about US$90 million (Bt2.8 billion) this year on further developing its 3G broadband cellular service in Laos and Cambodia.

Executive chairman Dumrong Kasemseth said yesterday that $60 million would go to Cambodia Shinawatra and $30 million to Lao Telecom. Both are under Shenington Investments, Thaicom's telecom holding company.

Cambodia Shinawatra already offers 3G, while Lao Telecom will kick off its third-generation service this year. They have a combined 1.5 million subscribers for the existing 2G cellular service.

Shenington is a 51:49 joint venture of Thaicom and Asia Mobile Holdings.

Dumrong said Thaicom might expand its mobile-phone service to more countries after Laos and Cambodia but declined to elaborate. Besides Shenington, Thaicom's three other core businesses are conventional satellite broadcasting via Thaicoms 1, 2 and 5, wireless Internet broadband service via its iPSTAR satellite, and wired Internet service via CS Loxinfo.

Last year Shenington generated revenue of about $150 million. The three broadcasting satellites contributed $100 million, iPSTAR $51 million and CS Loxinfo $50 million, Dumrong said.

Revenue growth this year will be 30 per cent for Shenington, 100 per cent for iPSTAR, 10 per cent for the Thaicom satellites and 10 per cent for CS Loxinfo, he said.

ShinSat shareholders approved the name change to Thaicom last week. The move reflects its attempt to stay clear from politics.

It has applied to the Stock Exchange of Thailand to switch its stock symbol from SATTEL to THCOM.

Shin Corp, founded by the family of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, owns 41.27 per cent of Thaicom.

Thaicom is considering launching Thaicom 6 to replace Thaicom 1, which reaches the end of its life expectancy in the middle of next year, but might need an investment partner if it decides to go ahead with the project, Dumrong said.

Thaicom's consolidated revenue rocketed up 42.6 per cent to Bt12.8 billion last year, mainly on the extraordinary gain of Bt5.13 billion from its sale of 49 per cent of Shenington to Asia Mobile Holdings in July.

It posted a net profit of Bt3.04 billion versus a loss of Bt46 million in 2006. It also booked a foreign-exchange gain of Bt1.05 billion from the baht's appreciation.

Recently Thaicom projected iPSTAR terminal sales of 100,000 units this year on a conservative basis, of which 30,000 were expected last quarter. Last year it sold 38,011 iPSTAR terminals, bringing the cumulative total to 104,067.

This year it will deliver 11,000 iPSTAR terminals to TOT, its distributor for Thailand, after supplying the first lot of 6,000 to the state telecom enterprise last year, in line with their 2007 contract.

Cambodia launches first satellite TV network

PHNOM PENH, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The national Television of Kampuchea (TVK) and the Cambodian DTV Network Limited (CDN), a branch of the Shin Satellite Company from Thailand, here on Thursday launched Techo-DTV, the first satellite TV network of Cambodia.

"From now on, people in all the corners of Cambodia will be able to watch all programs of our TV networks easily through this satellite TV network," said Khieu Kahnarith, Cambodian government spokesman and Minister of Information.

People who live at all kinds of geographical locations will be able to watch TV programs through this satellite TV service, he said.

The Cambodia National Election Committee (NEC) will be able to use this satellite TV network to educate people about election process for the general election in July, he added.

Kem Kunnawadh, director general of TVK, said that Techo-DTV is the country's first satellite television network service that can provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) television programs to every household in the kingdom.

The viewers will enjoy watching all local Khmer channels and some foreign channels, he said, adding that people can also subscribe to pay TV service in the near future.

Dumrong Kasemset, Chief of Executive for the Shin Satellite Company, said that the main benefit of Techo-DTV service includes digital quality of picture and sound similar to that of DVD and convenience to install at every location of houses and buildings.

The DTV service sells 75 U.S. dollars with satellite dish and antenna.

Urban Cambodian people can now access cable TV networks, while about 20 percent of the 14 million population in remote places can't access TV service. Satellite TV will be their solution if they can afford it.