Thai court orders ex-PM Thaksin to pay $500 mn tax bill: Reports – Firstpost

Thailand’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered jailed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to pay taxes on the sale of his telecoms company, the judiciary said, with reports putting the amount owed at nearly half a billion dollars.

In 2006, Thaksin was dogged by corruption allegations and controversy over the tax-free sale of shares in his company, Shin Corp.

He was removed as Prime Minister in a coup later that year and then went into exile for more than a decade.

The 76-year-old politician, one of Thailand’s richest people, is currently serving a prison sentence in Bangkok for corruption during his tenure.

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals court’s decision in the tax case, “forcing Thaksin to comply with the Revenue Department’s order to pay the tax”, said court spokesman Suriyan Hongwilai. AFP,

Suriyan neither disclosed the specific amount to be paid nor explained the court’s reasoning for its decision.

Several Thai media outlets reported that the court ordered Thaksin to pay 17.6 billion baht ($540 million) in tax liabilities and fines.

Tax authorities hit the former prime minister with a $500 million bill in 2017, reigniting the dispute at the center of the political rift between the country’s populist politician and the military establishment.

The controversy centered on whether Thaksin should have paid tax on the 2006 sale of Shin Corp to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

The uproar over the deal, which gave the Shinawatra family a $1.9 billion windfall, was a lightning rod for opposition to his government.

The protests culminated in a coup that removed him from office and sparked years of debilitating political conflict between his supporters and opponents.

The Shinawatra clan has for two decades been a key enemy of Thailand’s pro-military, pro-kingdom elite, who see their populist brand of politics as a threat to the traditional social order.

But the Shinawatra dynasty has faced a number of legal and political setbacks, including a court order in August to remove Thaksin’s daughter Patongtarn as prime minister due to ethics violations.