Abhisit queries 'no tax' for Thaksin kids 8/08/2011

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has questioned
the Revenue Department’s recent decision not to collect taxes from
Thaksin Shinawatra’s children from the sales of their ShinCorp shares to
Singapore's Temasek Holdings in 2006.

Mr Abhisit, the new opposition leader, said on Monday he plans to
examine the reasons given by the department and will watch how the
Finance Ministry, which oversees the department, explains the issue.


Someone has to pay the taxes stemming from the transaction, he said.


Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra earned huge capital gains when
they sold their Shin shares to the Singapore-govvernment owned company
through the Stock Exchange of Thailand for 49.25 baht each.


They had bought 329.2 million shares from Ample Rich Investments Ltd,
an offshore holding company founded by their father Thaksin when he was
prime minister, for one baht each.


The Revenue department earlier wanted Mr Panthongtae and Ms
Pinthongta to pay taxes of 5.6 billion baht each and decided to freeze
their assets.


However, tax authorities  decided to return the frozen assets to the
Thaksin siblings following the tax court’s  ruling late last year that
the two were not the real owners of the shares of telecom giant Shin
Corp, which had been controlled by Thaksin’s family before it was sold
to Temasek.


As a result they were not required to pay taxes.


The court based its verdict on the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2010
that found Thaksin still had control of the shares before they were sold
because his children were acting only as his proxies.


the Revenue Department usually appeals against rulings by courts to
avoid being criticised of dereliction of duty,  a source at Finance
Ministry said. Its decision not to appeal the tax court in this case
must be approved by the Finance Ministry.


Deputy Revenue Department chief Chitmani Suwannaphun has announced
the Finance Ministry has already approved the department’s decision.


In response to the department’s move, former Democrat
secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban said this was “what could be
expected” because it was the goal of convicted former PM Thaksin to get
his assets back.