A year after the military toppled his government, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra must be pondering his fate.
Will he have a chance to return home in triumph? Or will he face a similar fate to former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Philippine President Joseph Estrada?
Sharif was arrested on 10 September, shortly after he tried to end a seven-year exile and landed at Islamabad. He had been convicted for corruption after his government was toppled in a military coup in 1999, but was later allowed to leave the country in an exile pact with Saudi Arabia. However, President Pervez Musharraf, who staged the coup, would not allow Sharif to return home. Barely four hours after landing, the former PM was whisked out of the country again.
And on 12 September, deposed President Estrada was convicted and sentenced to life in prison after a landmark six-year trial on charges that he took bribes and kickbacks while in office. Estrada, a former film star who once pulled off the biggest election victory in Philippine history, was ousted in January 2001 by the countrys second non-violent people power revolt.
Thaksin was also ousted from office by a military coup on 19 September, 2006, on the grounds that he created disunity among the people, failed to show respect to the monarchy, destroyed checks and balances in the political system and presided over a very corrupt regime. The sale of his familys business, Shin Corp, to Temasek Holdings of Singapore triggered the political crisis that eventually led to his downfall.
He would not want to return to Thailand now, knowing well that the corruption cases against him - from the Ratchadaphisek land deal, the CTX bomb scanner scandal to the Shin Corp deal - are serious matters. If he were to stand trial in Thailand, he would end up in prison like Estrada.
Already, Thaksin and his wife, Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra, have been charged with entering into an illegal deal to buy land in Bangkoks Ratchadaphisek area from the Financial Institutions Development Fund.
The Department of Special Investigation has also charged him and his wife with concealing assets in Win Mark, an offshore company, without proper disclosure before the listing of SC Asset, the familys real-estate arm.
Public prosecutors are now exploring legal means to extradite Thaksin from Britain to stand trial in a Thai court.
Meanwhile, the Asset Examination Committee (AEC) has filed a suit and come up with damaging evidence against Thaksin and Pojaman for alleged asset concealment in Ample Rich Investments and Win Mark, which held shares in Shin Corp before the sale to Temasek. It is now trying to prove that while Thaksin served as Prime Minister, he still owned and controlled Shin Corp and implemented policies - such as revising telecom concessions, giving tax privileges to ShinSat and altering state concessions with iTV - to benefit Shin Corp. These matters represent a serious conflict of interest. The wealth Thaksin and his wife got from the sale of Shin was unusual and unjustified, the AEC concluded.
Based on this preliminary finding, the AEC has moved to freeze some 50 billion baht in assets belonging to Thaksin and Pojaman that they got from the sale of Shin Corp.
If Thaksin is found guilty of owning and controlling Shin while he was PM, he would lose all the assets that have been frozen, as Thai law prohibits the Prime Minister and ministers from holding more than 5 per cent in a business. It also bars them having any stake in any businesses that have concessions with state agencies.
Shin subsidiaries had several concessions with state agencies, from mobile phones and aviation to satellites and television.
Is the evidence against Thaksin and Pojaman over alleged asset concealment convincing?
After several months of thorough investigation, the AEC appears to have gathered enough material to nail the former PM. It has produced documents to show that while he served as Prime Minister, he allegedly still owned or controlled Ample Rich Investment, which in turn held 10 per cent in Shin Corp. Moreover, the AEC had also found Thaksin allegedly concealed his wealth in Win Mark, used to hold stocks in SC Asset and Shin.
Win Mark has also been accused of insider trading in Shin Corp stocks ahead of its sale to Temasek. The AEC is quite confident it has enough evidence to make these charges stick once the case goes to trial. Ample Rich and Win Mark, which were established in the British Virgin Islands, will come back to haunt Thaksin. And the fate of his doomed future could hinge on these twin companies, which he created, from which he allegedly benefited, and as a result of which, he might lose everything.
n Nation/ANN
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