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THAILAND: Thaksin's Wife Gets Jail Term For Tax Fraud
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Jul 31 (IPS) - The law finally caught up with the Shinawatras, Thailand’s most powerful political family. A court has convicted Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, of tax fraud and sentenced her to three years in jail.
The criminal court also convicted Pojaman’s adopted brother, Bhanapot Damapong, and her secretary, Kanchana Honghern, for the same crime in the landmark verdict delivered, Thursday, in an emotionally charged atmosphere. Bhanapot was also sentenced to three years in prison, while the secretary was given a two-year sentence.
All three were hauled before the courts for evading payments worth 654 million baht (16.3 million US dollars) in taxes in a share transfer in 1997 in the Shiawatra’s flagship telecommunication business. For this fraudulent
deal, they had roped in one of the maids working for the Shinawatras.
This case was brought to light by the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), a body that was set up by the junta that took power after the military staged a coup in September 2006, ousting the twice-elected Thaksin from office. The AEC’s mandate was to investigate charges of fraud linked to those who were in power when Thaksin was the country’s
leader, beginning in January 2001.
‘’It was a fair trial and the decision rendered by the court was fair,’’ Somchai Homlaor, a Thai human rights lawyer, told IPS. ‘’It confirmed that the judiciary is independent.’’
‘Thai Rath,’ the country’s largest Thai-language newspaper was more dramatic in capturing the significance of the court’s ruling. ‘’Lightning Strikes the Shinawatra Family’’ it said in a headline on its webpage above a story that broke the news about the former first
lady’s legal defeat.
The 51-year-old Pojaman appeared shocked when the judge ruled that she was guilty. Seated with her in the packed Bangkok Criminal Court were Thaksin and their three children. One of their daughters kept shaking
her head at one point while the nearly one-and-a-half hour judgement was read.
But Pojaman was immediately released after posting 149,000 dollars in bail. And her plans to challenge the verdict, first going before the Appeals Court and then the Supreme Court, was revealed soon after.
‘’The defendants will definitely appeal. We will not comment on the verdict because it is not final,’’ Pongthep Thepkanjana, Thaksin’s spokesman, told journalists outside the court. ‘’The cases will go to the courts of appeal and the Supreme Court. It will take two to three years or more. That is the normal process.’’
Yet for the nearly 1,000 supporters of the Shinawatras who had gathered outside the courthouse on Thursday morning, the verdict triggered disappointment and, in some cases, tears. ‘’This verdict is not fair,’’ said a 48-year-old woman, who gave her name as Nun. ‘’I don’t think
people who have supported Thaksin will change their mind about him after this.’’
‘’They have done a lot for our country,’’ added Nun, a scientist by training. ‘’The people who came to the court today came to cheer them.’’
And that they certainly did, when Pojaman and her family emerged on the steps of the courthouse after the verdict and headed to a waiting car. The crowds, cutting across many ages and varying social backgrounds, clapped and cheered. Out of place, though, were the garlands of
marigolds and bouquets of red roses that many supporters had brought to celebrate a possible verdict of innocence.
Today’s verdict comes nearly seven years after the Shinawatras faced their last major battle in court. Then, Thaksin, who was a billionaire telecoms tycoon, was accused of concealing his assets. That August 2001 verdict, coming six months after he had taken office as prime minister, declared him innocent, with the judges ruling 7-6 in his favour.
But accusations of corruption began to dog his administration in the subsequent years. The tens of thousands of Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets to protest against the Thaksin administration in early 2006
charged it for alleged corrupt deals, in addition to nepotism and the abuse of power. These anti-Thaksin street protests laid the ground for the military putsch that followed.
Thursday’s verdict - that the Shinawatras are finally not above the law - may serve as a template for more legal trouble ahead. Currently, Thaksin is facing three cases, with a possible fourth to follow.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court decided to accept a case against the former prime minister for abusing the power of his office. He is accused of ordering the state-owned export-import bank, EXIM Bank, to provide 29.9 million dollars in loans to the military regime in neighbouring Burma in 2004 to develop its telecommunications infrastructure. An immediate beneficiary of that deal was Shin Corp, the telecommunications giant owned by the Shinawatras that has since been sold to Singapore’s Temasak group.
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving Thaksin and members of his cabinet over a decision to launch a government lottery scheme in 2003. It came while Thaksin and his wife are facing a case in
another court looking into the questionable sale of a plot of prime property in Bangkok.
The prevailing signs of a more assertive and independent judiciary do not bode well for the current government of Prime Minster Samak Sundaravej, who led a party heavily backed by Thaksin to victory at last December’s general elections. Already three cabinet members have been
forced to resign over legal issues, and three more may face the same fate if the courts rule against them.
This trend of the courts attempting to hold the country’s powerful accountable to the law stands in contrast with the legal culture that often prevailed in the past, where, with few exceptions, rich and politically connected Thais got away with abuse.
‘’Very few cases involving powerful political figures were taken to courts in the past. They often collapsed at the stage of investigation and inquiry because of big corruption at this stage,’’ says Somchai, the
lawyer. ‘’The verdict against Pojaman should send a message to politicians and powerful officials in government that they are not above the law.’’
(END/2008)
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