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Thailand: Thaksin may have had control over Ample Rich Investments after 2000 despite his denials(Thai Press Reports Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Section: General News - Incriminating evidence found in SEC filings on Ample Rich, Win Mark connection, The Nation reports. Contrary to his claim that he had transferred his interest in Ample Rich Investments to his two children in 2000, Thaksin Shinawatra was still the beneficial owner of this obscure offshore company at least up until June 2005 while he was serving as prime minister, Thai investigators have found. According to a UBS AG Singapore document obtained by the Thai investigators and The Nation, Thaksin's name appeared on a corporate certificate submitted to UBS and signed by Lau Hwee Tiang and Kanjanapa Honghern. The corporate certificate, dated June 11, 1999, certified that "any withdrawal is to be authorised by Dr T SHINAWATRA solely". Tiang and Kanjanapa, who is a personal secretary to Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, served along with Thaksin as directors of Ample Rich, which held a 10-per-cent stake in Shin Corp. UBS AG Singapore was acting as custodian and managing brokerage accounts for Ample Rich Investments' trading activity. Right after selling his family's 49-per-cent stake in Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings of Singapore, Thaksin was forced to come out again to admit that he had owned Ample Rich, which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. But he insisted that he had transferred his interest in Ample Rich to his two children, Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra, right before he entered politics in 2000. Thai law requires public office holders to hold shares in companies amounting to less than 5 per cent of the total share capital, and bars them from having any interest in companies that have gained concessions or monopoly businesses from the government. At the same time, all assets held by the public office holders must be filed to the National Counter Corruption Commission for public knowledge. But another document from UBS AG Singapore showed that Panthongtae and Pintongta replaced Thaksin, Tiang and Kanjapana as directors of Ample Rich with full authority on June 29, 2005. This implies that at least up until June 28, 2005, Thaksin was still the beneficial owner of Ample Rich, contrary to his claim that he transferred his interest in the offshore company to Panthongtae on December 1, 2000. Thaksin won the election in January 2001 and served as prime minister until September 2006 when he was toppled by a military coup. Another crucial finding of the Thai investigators is that Win Mark, another twin offshore company with Ample Rich, was not only assigned to hold shares of SC Asset on behalf of Thaksin and Pojaman, but also shares of Shin Corp. The Department of Special Investigation is bringing charges against Thaksin that he was using Win Mark, which shares the same address in the British Virgin Islands as Ample Rich, as a nominee to conceal his overseas assets. Thaksin gave an interview to TV host Sorrayuth Suthasanachinda on November 28, 2000, and admitted that he owned Ample Rich but denied any knowledge about Win Mark, which, as he suggested, was only a foreign company. At the time, he was about to enter into a bitter legal battle to defend charges that he had concealed his assets through his household servants and maids. He won the case at the Constitution Court in 2001 by a narrow margin. Since he denied any involvement with Win Mark, this offshore company has returned to haunt him again. The case of Win Mark, apart from its complicated stock dealings with SC Asset and a number of real-estate companies of the Shinawatra family, surfaced again after Thaksin's family sold 49 per cent of Shin Corp to Temasek for Bt73.4 billion in January 2006. UBS AG Singapore was apparently looking after the accounts of both Ample Rich and Win Mark. Ample Rich was holding about 10 per cent in Shin Corp, compared to more than 1 per cent for Win Mark. Win Mark's role would have helped the Shinawatra family maintain at least 51 per cent of Shin Corp in order to assure management control. But the problem is that Thaksin has never admitted or disclosed Win Mark's holding of Shin Corp stocks. According to Thai investigators, on August 24, 2001, UBS AG Singapore filed a 246-2 form to the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission to declare that it was holding 10,000,000 shares (Bt10 par value then) of Shin Corp for Ample Rich and another 5,405,913 shares of Shin Corp in another account. Now the authorities believe that the 5,405,913 shares belonged to Win Mark. UBS AG Singapore was obliged to file the 246-2 form because the combined stake of the two accounts under its custodianship breached the 5-per-cent mark to 5.24 per cent. Thai securities law requires any individual, party or company to report holdings in a publicly listed company if the stake exceeds 5 per cent. UBS AG Singapore's filing could only mean that the beneficiary owner of Ample Rich and Win Mark was the same person. A document of the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission dated February 23, 2006, and a document of UBS AG Singapore dated February 21, 2006, also pointed to the same direction. They implied that the 10 million Shin Corp shares of Ample Rich and more than five million Shin Corp shares of Win Mark belonged to the same person. Thai investigators also have found evidence to contradict the claim of the Shinawatra family that Ample Rich had been passively holding the Shin Corp shares in the overseas account without any trading. Ample Rich had been moving the Shin Corp stocks on several occasions, including transactions between it and Win Mark without any payment involved, which also suggested that the beneficial owner was the same person. Now both the Department of Special Investigation and the Assets Examination Committee have evidence in their hands to prove that Thaksin had again hidden his assets overseas. Moreover, Thaksin will also be charged with using nominees from his children and close relatives to conceal his real ownership without proper disclosure and in violation of the law. Since Shin Corp is the parent company of several affiliated companies that have concessions with the government such as telecom, TV and satellites, the authorities are now building up a criminal case of being "unusually wealthy" against Thaksin. The Assets Examination Committee has already frozen about Bt50 billion in assets of Thaksin and Pojaman, and it will be working on cases against Thaksin to prove that while he was serving as prime minister, he implemented several policy measures to benefit Shin Corp, of which he was a true beneficial owner. If the state wins these cases, it will confiscate Thaksin's assets. Copyright 2007 Thai News Service, Source: The Financial Times Limited |