The wife of deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion yesterday, the first conviction against his family since he was toppled in a 2006 coup.
Pojaman Shinawatra and her brother were given three years in prison, while her secretary received a two-year sentence.
“The actions by the three defendants are serious violations of the law. The court has decided that the three defendants were guilty of tax fraud,” Judge Pramote Pipatpramote said.
All three were released on bail of 5 million baht (US$150,000) each pending appeal, court officials said.
The family’s spokesman immediately announced an appeal against the verdict.
“We will appeal within 30 days ... We will wait for the decision from the highest court. We respect the decision of the highest court,” Phongthep Thepkanjana said.
The case is one of a dozen corruption claims against Thaksin, his family and his political allies currently working their way through the legal system.
This verdict signals a tougher line by the courts against the former premier, Bangkok-based analyst and Thaksin biographer Chris Baker said.
“It’s very significant for both of them. Nobody doubts this was a family matter. It will reflect on all of them,” Baker said.
“I don’t think we need to take the [corruption] cases as a team effort, I think each one will be decided on its merits,” he said.
“The courts here are often intimidated by people in power or who were in power and they are reluctant to convict. In this case that doesn’t seem to be operating,” Baker said.
Pojaman and the two other defendants were convicted of colluding to evade tax worth 546 million baht in a 1997 transfer of shares in the family’s Shinawatra Computer and Communication company, which later became Thailand’s telecom giant Shin Corp.
The defendants denied the charges, insisting the shares were a gift so would be tax-free.
Baker said it was an “exceptionally damaging” judgement, which the powerful Shinawatra family were likely to fight as long as possible.
“It will go on — they will use every possible means under the law, but their ability to use other methods to influence any decision now is highly limited,” Baker said.
Pojaman smiled as she left the court wearing sunglasses and a somber gray suit, flanked by Thaksin and their three children, and greeted by hundreds of supporters carrying red roses.
About 100 other supporters had filled the courtroom as the verdict — broadcast live on nationwide television — was read out.
The trial also attracted a huge security presence, with 200 police and guards surrounding the court, some wearing riot gear.
Thaksin and his wife are also set to testify this month at another corruption trial against them in which Pojaman, 51, is accused of using her billionaire husband’s political influence to buy a plot of prime Bangkok real estate from a government agency at one-third of its estimated value.
Pojaman, who rarely speaks in public, is widely seen as an important partner in Thaksin’s vast political and business interests, which include being owner of English Premier League soccer club Manchester City.
While Thaksin stayed abroad for months following the coup, Pojaman shuttled in and out of the country to manage her husband’s affairs in Bangkok between traveling to meet him in various spots around the world.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS