Thaksin’s ex-wife acquitted
THAILAND: A court last week acquitted the ex-wife of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra after she appealed against her conviction and three-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
Friday 2 September 2011, 08:31AM
Pojaman Shinawatra “did not have a duty to pay tax” when she sold shares in a then family-owned telecoms business to her brother, a judge at Bangkok’s Criminal Court said.
Ms Pojaman, her brother and her secretary Kanjanapa Hongheun were convicted in July 2008 of colluding to evade tax totalling B546 million in a 1997 transfer of shares in Shinawatra Computer and Communication, which later became Shin Corp.
Mr Thaksin fled the country days after his wife’s conviction – and ahead of his own corruption trial – and has never returned, arguing that charges against him were politically-motivated.
He was later sentenced in absentia to two years in prison over a land deal involving his ex-wife.
In February last year the Supreme Court confiscated around B42 billion – about half of Mr Thaksin’s fortune – thought to be the proceeds of the 2006 sale of Shin Corp to Singapore-based Temasek Holdings. – AFP
