(Nov 18): Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra faces renewed legal troubles after prosecutors moved to appeal his acquittal in a royal defamation case and the country’s top court separately ordered him to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes.
The Supreme Court reinstated a tax penalty over Thaksin’s 2006 sale of his telecom company Shin Corp to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, overturning earlier rulings that had voided the Revenue Department’s claim, Lavaron Sangsnit, Finance Ministry’s permanent secretary, confirmed on Tuesday.
The Office of the Attorney-General, meanwhile, has decided to challenge a lower court’s August ruling that cleared Thaksin of lese majeste charges stemming from a 2015 interview with a South Korean newspaper, the Bangkok Post reported.
The twin legal setbacks mark the latest twist in the long-running saga of Thaksin, the billionaire ex-premier who has played a key role shaping Thailand’s politics since the early 2000s. The cases highlight his waning yet enduring influence on the nation’s power structure.
His lawyers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Supreme Court hasn’t published Thaksin’s tax case on its website.
Shin Corp’s US$1.9 billion (FM7.88 billion) sale — executed without any tax payment — triggered widespread street protests that ultimately led to Thaksin’s ouster in a military coup. This week’s 17.6 billion baht (US$542 million) tax bill essentially revives a long-standing dispute over unpaid personal income tax and allows enforcement proceedings to resume.
See also: Marcos’ new Philippine finance chief seen as safe, pro-business choice
Shin Corp merged with Gulf Energy Development earlier this year.
Thaksin is currently serving a one-year prison sentence that began on Sept 9, after the top court ruled that his six-month stay in a police hospital in 2023 didn’t count as time served.
Uploaded by Felyx Teoh
