Thailand's high court seizes $1.4 billion from former PM Thaksin Shinawatra

Inside the wood-paneled courtroom, the panel of nine judges took turns to read aloud the entire trial proceedings to a half-empty gallery. None of Thaksin’s family members who held shares in Shin Corp attended the hearing.

The fight goes on

Even before the verdict was pronounced, Thaksin’s supporters insisted that their street protests, which have turned violent in the past, would continue regardless. A planned March 14 rally of up to 1 million people in Bangkok is to urge the ruling coalition to dissolve parliament and return power to the people, says Jatuporn Prompan, an opposition lawmaker.

“The red shirts want the country to be a real democracy and to put a stop to double standards,” he says.

Government supporters had hoped that a guilty verdict might deter Thaksin by tarnishing his record in office and starving him of extra funds for political campaigns. “If Thaksin doesn’t support the Reds with his money, the demonstrations will decrease in size,” says Thepthai Senpong, a spokesman for the ruling Democrat Party.

But observers say that Thaksin is unwilling to abandon his fight to regain power, even if Friday’s court seizure fails to ignite mass protests. He was also sentenced last year to a two-year jail term over the sale in 2003 of government land to his wife.

Mixing business and politics

Friday’s ruling focused on Shin Corp, the company that Thaksin founded and built into one of Thailand’s most successful conglomerates, with interests in telecoms, property, airlines, and satellites. As prime minister, Thaksin was required to divest himself of ownership of any companies with government contracts. He transferred shares in Shin Corp to family members, a common ruse in Thailand. But his government was dogged by accusations that Thaksin’s business interests shaped public policy.

The Supreme Court found that Thaksin used a government bank to finance the sale of his satellite services to Burma (Myanmar). Other favorable policies included changes to concession fees paid by Shin Corp’s mobile-phone division.

Thaksin was far from the first Asian leader to mix business and politics. His rise to power in 2001 was propelled by Thai businesspeople fed up with politicians and seduced by Thaksin’s promise of CEO-style leadership and his nationalist rhetoric.

However, the sale of Shin Corp to Singapore raised nationalist hackles in Thailand and proved a fatal blow to Thaksin’s credibility. Protesters at the time also seized on the deal’s structure and the use of offshore companies that avoid capital-gains tax.

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