Thai court may probe Thaksin’s role
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 | 4:26 am @ SK
Thailand Prime Minsiter Thaksin Shinawatra is in hot soup.
Last month, Thaksin sold his family’s stake of 49% stake in in Shin Corp to the Singaporean government’s investment arm, Temasek Holdings and avoided paying capital gains tax, resulted in the deal was heavily critisized in the Thai press.
Due to widespread criticism and repeated rallies from public calling him to go, he relented and offered a concession to his critics by saying he might hold a referendum to amend the constituition.
"I welcome the call for constitutional changes, but I have to ask for the public’s approval."
However, before the inception of the said referendum, Thailand’s Constitutional Court has agreed to consider a petition alleging Thaksin has violated conflict of interest laws, where the court has been asked to investigate whether Thaksin was still involved in a telecoms giant when his family sold its stake.
A group of 28 senators who alleged that he was still the de-facto owner of Shin Corp and had introduced policies which benefited the business.
(SOURCE: BBC, 14 February 2009)
But in Malaysia, things like this get off scot free.
That’s the difference.