He claimed the company, Asia Aviation Co Ltd, had no office and urged the Commerce Department to trace the source of its money because Asia Aviation has only Bt5 million in registered capital.

Kiat Sitthee-amorn, a Democrat party-list MP, said he had checked out the address Asia Aviation gave the Commerce Ministry as the location of its office: 15th floor, 408/60 Phaholyothin Place.

“We found nobody working there. There’s only left-over wood and trash sacks,” he said. “The building’s guards told us the office belonged to E Dotcom Internetwork, which moved out sometime before. Now, it’s a deserted office.

“Therefore, we question why the Commerce Ministry accepted the registration of this company, especially in this case, which has received high media attention,” Kiat said. “The ministry should have checked more thoroughly.”

Thai AirAsia had to find new local partners to maintain its Thai-majority ownership in order to keep its aviation licence. The Aviation Department wrote to the airline asking it to review its shareholding structure after Singapore’s Temasek Holdings became the largest shareholder in Shin Corp, which owned a 50-per-cent stake in Thai AirAsia.

Shin later announced a new shareholding structure for Thai AirAsia, including Asia Aviation as a new Thai-owned majority shareholder. Under the new structure, AirAsia Bhd of Malaysia holds 49 per cent, Thai AirAsia chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld 1 per cent and Asia Aviation, 50 per cent. Asia Aviation is 51 per cent owned by Sittichai Veerathummnoon, and the rest is held by Shin Corp.

However, Kiat asked yesterday how a company with a registered capital of only Bt5 million had managed to take over Thai AirAsia, whose registered capital is Bt400 million.

“Half of that would be Bt200 million,” he said, “but the real book value should be higher than that. Where did the company get the money from? No bank would have lent such a huge amount of money to a small company.”

Kiat said the authorities should trace the source of the money to find out how the new shareholder got the funds to buy Thai AirAsia, to prevent a nominee shareholding.

At a separate press conference, Tassapon said he had known Sitthichai for some time because both are alumni of Assumption University.

However, he declined to comment on whether the new investor was acting as a nominee for another investor, as claimed by the Democrat MP.

“As far as I know, Khun Sitthichai used his personal money and loans to finance the investment of around Bt200 million,” Tassapon said. “But from whom he borrowed the money, or whether he holds shares on other person’s behalf, I don’t know.”

He said Sitthichai would become a director of Thai AirAsia. “Sitthichai will not be involved in management. He will only advise on the air transport business based on his experience as an executive at DHL.”

Tassapon added that after the Aviation Department’s request 14 days ago that Thai AirAsia review its shareholding structure, a number of investors had expressed interest in co-investing in the carrier. Finally, the company selected Sitthichai. He said Asia Aviation had registered with the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday.

He also said that although Shin was a shareholder of Thai AirAsia, the airline had never received any privileges – not even a parking bay. Moreover, Thai AirAsia has never replaced Thai Airways International on any routes. “We got all the rights as a result of our negotiations,” he said.

Tassapon said Thai AirAsia would not change its management plan in spite of Temasek’s takeover of Shin.

The airline will receive another three aircraft this year, giving it a fleet of 12 aircraft. It is expecting to carry three million passengers this year, and is planning to launch more international services from Bangkok to Kunming, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka, Rangoon, and some cities in India.

Yosawadee Hongthong,

Suchat Sritama

 The Nation