Court Rules In Favour Of Scb Petition

[webfact]

Court rules in favour of SCB petition

BANGKOK, Oct 1 (TNA) – Thailand's Central Administrative Court ruled Wednesday that the now-dissolved Assets Examination Committee(AEC)'s order to freeze all deposit accounts of the children of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra at Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) remains valid and that the bank will continue to hold the funds, not releasing them to the Revenue Department to be applied against Mr Thaksin's back taxes.

The court held its last courtroom consideration of the SCB petition against the Revenue Department's demand to surrender the funds of Pinthongta and Panthongtae Shinawatra to pay Bt12 billion in tax penalties arising from the sale of Mr Thaksin's Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasak Holdings.

Chief Judge Charuay Nookong said the court ruled that AEC had the authority to scrutinise the sale of Shin Corporation's shares by both Thaksin children, who were directors of Ample Rich Co.

The AEC order to freeze all deposit accounts of the ex-premier's children at SCB bank on June 11, 2007 remains valid although the committee had already ended its role and transferred its authority to the National Counter Corruption Committee.

Because of this, the court dismissed the Revenue Department's demand that SCB transfer the funds from Mr Thaksin's children's accounts to pay tax penalties and allowed the bank to observe the AEC order.

Niyom Vanichwattanarumluek, manager of SCB's Legal Affairs Division, said the final verdict given by the court paved the clear way for the bank to follow the assets committee order.

The bank would continue to suspend all deposit accounts of Ms Pinthongta and Mr Panthongtae frozen until the cases involved with the funds were settled.

Siam Commercial Bank on August 22, 2008 petitioned the Administrative Court for an injunction against the Revenue Department demand that the bank transfer the Thaksin children's account assets to pay tax penalties to the department.

The court accepted the bank's argument, but the revenue agency appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court to terminate the injunction.

The court upheld the Central Administrative Court's order, citing that complying with the department's request would potentially countermand the previous asset freeze ordered by the AEC in June 2007. (TNA)

-- TNA 2009/10/01

[jamesjdaly]

Edited October 1, 2009 by jamesjdaly

[davejonesbkk]

hahahahaha tears of frustration