AEC freezes Thaksin's assets, proceeds from Shin Corp sale

The Assets Examination Committee decided Monday to freeze assets of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his close relatives on five charges.

The AEC announced its decision in a document handed to reporters.

The AEC froze all bank accounts of Thaksin and his wife, including foreign bank accounts as well as accounts of proceeds from the sale of Shin Corp shares to Temasek Holdings of Singapore.

The AEC said Thaksin had abused his authority as the prime minister to benefit business interests of Shin Corp.

The five charges are irregularities related to the following projects:

1 The purchase of a plot in Ratchada area worth Bt772 million

2 The purchase of rubber seeds worth Bt1.14 billion

3 The purchase of CTX bomb scanners worth Bt1.5 billion

4 The two and three-digit lottery project worth Bt37.79 billion

5 The exemption of telecom firms to pay concession fees worth Bt30.667 billion.

The Nation

Ousted Thaksin's money reduces from Bt73 billion to Bt52.88 billion

Assets Examination Committee (AEC) ruled on Monday to freeze assets of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his associates on charges of corruption and malfeasance.

AEC ordered the freezing of all bank accounts, issued inside and outside Thailand and at all financial institutions.

It also ordered banks that Thaksin and associates have accounts to report all deposits and withdrawals of money of the bank accounts, starting from 2001, the year Thaksin became prime minister.

The order came as AEC alleged that Thaksin abused his power and corrupted for the benefits of his Shin Corop in five projects which included his wife's purchase of Ratchadapisek land, purchase of rubber saplings, purchase of bomb detector machines for Suvarnnabhumi Airport, issuance of two and three-digit lotteries.

Among the allegations, the AEC believed that Thaksin and his associates allegedly corrupted when he sold his Shin Corp's stocks to Singapore government-owned Temasek Holdings, worth about Bt73.3 billion.

AEC found that Thaksin had already transferred from his bank account the money obtained from selling Shin Corp's shares to Temasek. Remaining money in his bank account has been vanished, reducing total wealth from Bt73.3 billion to Bt52.88 billion.

AEC's member, Kaewsan Atiphoti told reporters that Thaksin is required to defend the allegations within 60 days.

Kaewsan added that the ousted premier can appeal the freezing order.

The Nation

Is the Junta trying to make Thaksin into a martyr? Because they are doing a good job of it, they should just lynch him because, to his supporters, it's looking like they are doing that anyway...LOL