The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has passed information on the Shin Corp transactions to the four graft-busting agencies probing the Shinawatra and Damapong families on alleged stock concealment and tax evasion.

Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, secretary-general of the bourse watchdog, yesterday said the SEC was also seeking cooperation from authorities in Singapore and tax-haven territories by asking them to provide further information on transactions or ownership relating to Advanced Info Service (AIS) and SC Asset stocks, respectively.

In an interview with The Nation, Thirachai said the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), the Office of the Auditor-General, the Revenue Department and the Assets Examination Committee had all received information from the SEC about the Shin Corp transactions.

The authorities are now

probing whether there were any attempts on the part of the Shinawatra/Damapong families to conceal stocks or avoid paying tax.

Thirachai added that the exchange watchdog was also following up on alleged insider trading involving AIS and ownership problems surrounding SC Asset.

Earlier, Yingluck Shinawatra, a sister of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, was a target of investigation over whether she had benefited from insider information about the impending sale of Shin. She had been unloading her AIS stocks from her portfolio ahead of the Shin sale.

AIS, a subsidiary of Shin, was later subject to a tender offer by Temasek Holdings of Singapore at a price significantly below the market price.

An investigation by the exchange authorities appears to have cleared Yingluck of any wrongdoing. However, Thirachai said further investigation had found that foreign funds had also sold AIS stocks in advance of the Shin deal, making it necessary for the SEC to probe these funds too.

Thirachai said the SEC had had no problem getting cooperation from the exchange authorities in Singapore. But when it comes to cooperation from authorities in the tax havens, it is rather difficult, because they have their own regulations, and Thailand does not have any bilateral agreements with these territories.

Regarding SC Asset - a property firm owned by the Shinawatra family - the authorities are now probing its ownership. Before its listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Shinawatra family was listed as having a major stake in the company. But after the public filing, foreign funds stepped in to hold the shares instead.

Questions have been raised about whether the Offshore Dynamic Fund and the Overseas Growth Fund, who held the SC Asset shares, were actually owned by the Shinawatra family.

Thirachai said the SEC had already questioned Asset Plus Securities, which was the broker for this deal, about the identity of the offshore funds, but he declined to provide any details. He only said the information from Asset Plus was simply insufficient and that the SEC would probe further by seeking additional information from overseas.

The SEC was earlier criticised for not doing enough to probe the ownership of Ample Rich Investments and Win Mark, set up by Thaksin in the British Virgin Islands. These two offshore shell companies, which shared the same address, were later to be involved in the intriguing transactions involving Shin Corp and SC Asset stocks, respectively.

Thirachai defended the SEC's role so far in the probe into Shin and its related firms' transactions by stressing that the SEC had done its job within its jurisdiction as permitted under securities law.

He said the Shin deal was complicated, involving several legal dimensions. When it comes to a question about stock concealment, it involves the constitutional aspect and the NCCC; about tax, the Revenue Department; and about insider trading, the SEC.

When the Shin controversy broke, he added, each had worked its own way within its jurisdiction, without any interagency coordination.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee,

Thanong Khanthong

The Nation