TOT and CAT claIm Bt80 bn compensatIon from fInance mInIstry over excise loss

By Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

TOT and CAT Telecom yesterday claimed damages from their 100percent shareholder, the Finance Ministry, over losses caused by their concession holders deducting telecom excise from the concession fees.

CAT submitted claims for damages of more than Bt41 billion to the Central Administrative Court.

The move is aimed at the cabinet of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which decided on the telecom excise measure in 2003 that inflicted damage on both state agencies.

CAT cited in its filing to the Administrative Court that as the Thaksin cabinet did not hold a position in any state agencies at that time, the Finance Ministry was liable for damages caused by the telecom excise measure. This is in line with the law governing the legal charge on state officials.

TOT yesterday also notified the ministry to consider paying compensation for damages from the telecom excise measure, totalling more than Bt38.996 billion. It asked the ministry to pay the compensation within 15 days.

Their move to claim damages seemed to be due to pressure from Information and Communications Technology Minister Chuti Krairiksh, who sent a letter on February 15 urging both state agencies to claim compensation from the concession holders in connection with the concession amendments and the telecom excise. This follows the ruling of the Supreme Court last February in the assetseizure case against Thaksin.

The Thaksin cabinet slashed the telecom excise in 2003, which saw the fixedline telephone and cellular operators paying excise of 2 per cent and 10 per cent out of their concession fee to the Excise Department and the remainder to their concession owners TOT or CAT. This hurt the income of both state agencies, which used to get the full concession fee. The Surayud Chulanont government reduced the tax rate to zero in 2007.

Both CAT and TOT have approached arbitration panels since 2008 about the telecom excise move.

TOT owns the concessions of Advanced Info Service, True Corp, and TT&T, while CAT owns the concessions of Total Access Communication, TrueMove, and Digital Phone Co.

-- The Nation 2011-02-26

When the minister compensate indeed, this will be a good moment for TOT to compensate their clients for the time they were unable to use the internet.

Edited February 26, 201115 yr by Joop50