Press Release of Dr. Thaksin and Khun Ying Pojamarn Shinawatra dated September 11, 2007

In regards to the press release of the AEC issued on September 10, 2007, accusing Dr. Thaksin and Khun Ying Pojamarn of concealing assets, the AEC also accused Dr. Thaksin of being the true owner of Ample Rich and Win Mark, citing ‘credible' evidence.

We would like to point out that there is no new information. Everything has been clarified to the AEC but the AEC was cherrypicking the information to discredit Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra.

Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra would like to inform his fellow Thai citizens as follows:

1. Dr. Thaksin was a shareholder of Ample Rich but he did sell all his shares in Ample Rich to his son before he became the Prime Minister. This fact was reported to the SEC and Dr. Thaksin gave several interviews disclosing this issue to the public.
   
   The AEC cited one piece of evidence showing that Dr. Thaksin was the authorized signatory of Ample Rich, but that document was the account opening form he signed years before he became the Prime Minister. After Dr. Thaksin sold all his shares in Ample Rich, he was no longer a director nor entitled to sign any document on behalf of Ample Rich. If the AEC were to carry out the investigation in good faith and with fairness, they would have found the truth. But apparently the AEC did not.
   
   
2. The accusation of the AEC that Dr. Thaksin conceals his assets through Win Mark Fund was groundless and not true. As of now, the Department of Special Investigation is investigating the ‘Win Mark' matter but they can not reach any conclusion about the facts. But the AEC, without relying on facts or evidence, jumped to their imaginative conclusion.
   
   
3. The AEC made an accusation that certain dividends of Shin Corp were paid to Khun Ying Pojamarn's bank account. Therefore, the AEC concluded without further verification that Dr. Thaksin and his wife actually remained the true owner of Shin Corp Shares and thereby all his actions while he was Prime Minister were made to gain unjust benefit for his own assets; i.e. Shin Corp.
   
   This, again, is nothing new, just another twist of fact, a popular cheap trick often used by the AEC. Dr. Thaksin has always informed the public of the truth that in order to comply with the Constitution of 1997, he and his wife sold all their Shin Corporation shares to his children and others. In return, he and his wife received promissory notes as evidence of debts. When his children received their dividends from Shin Corp, they used part of that money to settle the debts outstanding. That is the reason why there was some fund transfers made to Khun Ying Pojamarn's bank account, but as a repayment of debts. Dr. Thaksin confirmed again that after he and his wife sold their Shin Corp shares, they never received any dividend payment from Shin Corp.
   
   
4. On September 9, 2007, the AEC expressly accused Ample Rich, Win Mark, Panthongthae Shinawatra (Dr. Thaksin's son) and Pinthongtha Shinawatra (Dr. Thaksin's daughter) as being “nominees” holding Shin Corp shares on behalf of Dr. Thaksin. However, a few months ago, the very same AEC was accusing both Panthongthae and Pinthongtha Shinawatra of failure to pay income taxes on the Shin Corp shares, the two of them “owned”! How many standards does the AEC use in carrying out their jobs? How many assumptions can the AEC make with respect to the very same set of facts? How many sides of the story can be told just to achieve their political goals of discrediting Dr. Thaksin and his family?
   
   If the AEC insisted that Dr. Thaksin had always been the owner of all Shin Corp shares but let others hold shares on his behalf, the AEC must drop all the tax charges against Panthongthae and Pinthongtha Shinawatra at once.