Thaksin's son 'violated disclosure laws'
The son of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra violated disclosure laws in the 73 billion baht sale of his and his family's stock of Shin Corporporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled today.
Panthongtae Shinawatra faces a fine and possibly - but unlikely - a jail term. But the SEC ruling poses a further political threat to his father, whose opponents have claimed for the past six weeks the Shin Corp sale to Singapore's state-owned investment firm Temasek was fishy.
The SEC found Mr Panthongtae, 27, guilty of three counts of failing to disclose information to regulators about his share transactions between 2000 and 2002 prior to the Shin Corp sale. The maximum penalty is two years in jail and a fine of up to 500,000 baht. But SEC officials said the violations were not serious, and the body will set a fine within two weeks.
Following a decision by the Constitutional Court last week not to investigate financial wrongdoing allegations against the premier, focus shifted to Panthongtae and his sister Pinthongta, said to be the major holders of Shin Corp stock.
Both were cleared of insider trading charges tied to the Shin Corp deal, SEC officials also cleared Ms Pinthongta of any disclosure violations.
"The investigation concluded that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his daughter Pinthongta are clear from all wrongdoing," said SEC secretary general Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala.
Mr Thaksin is under pressure to quit over an array of complaints, including allegations of wrongdoing in the sale of his family's share of the Shin Corp empire.
A mass protest is scheduled for Sunday at Sanam Luang. Two previous rallies drew tens of thousands of Thaksin opponents to Bangkok.