Shin Vice Chairman Olarn resigns on conflict of interest

Shin Corp Plc said Monday its vice chairman of the board Olarn Chaiprawat has resigned, effective April 4.

His resignation comes after opposition groups accused him of a conflict of interest, as he has been involved in the boards of a number of state-controlled companies.

Late last month, the Supreme Administrative Court said Olarn was not suitable to serve as a member of the committee supervising the privatization of state-owned power company EGAT Plc, since he was also an executive at Shin, and EGAT has plans to expand into telecom services.

The court also ruled that a planned initial public offering by EGAT could not proceed because a decree authorizing the earlier transformation of the state agency into a public company is illegitimate.

Olarn was also an executive of Shinawatra University. Both Shin Corp. and the university were controlled by the family of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra until the sale of the family's stake in Shin Corp. to Singapore's Temasek Holdings in late January.

Source: The Nation - 11 April 2006

he resigned the same day as Thaksin?