The price tag for Manchester City is about 100 million pounds sterling, or Bt7 billion. You may want to know from where he will dig his hand in to get the money.

Yes, he has the money. But from where will he get it because his assets are believed to be hidden everywhere?

A few months ago, Thaksin and his wife Pojaman Shinawatra had a difficult time moving Bt400 million out of Thailand. They would like to buy a luxury home in London. The Bank of Thailand froze Khunying Pojaman's request to transfer Bt400 million out of the country for a month. Afterward, it flashed the green light for her to do so.

Central bank regulation requires you to seek its approval first before you may transfer more than US$10 million out of the country to buy properties. If the amount is below US$10 million, any commercial bank can simply process the transfer according to your wish.

But if you want to invest in a business worth more than US$50 million, you also need central bank's approval. If the amount is less, a commercial bank can go ahead to process the deal on your behalf.

Now Thaksin will need to withdraw 100 million pounds from his wealth to purchase Manchester City. Will he ask the central bank's permission for him to move Bt7 billion out to complete this business deal? Will the central bank allow him to do so?

Nobody knows Thaksin's and Pojaman's real net worth. More than a year ago, it was rumoured that they had about US$3 billion (about Bt140 billion). After selling 49 per cent of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings of Singapore last year, the two collected Bt73.3 billion in cash.

This huge amount of money is still parked in the Thai banks inside the country. The central bank has been keeping a watchful eye on Thaksin's and Pojaman's money.

Thaksin has been very conscious of risk management. He sold out Shin Corp in order to get hold on the cash. If his political fortune were to turn wrong, he would hold on the cash rather than the stocks or the other immovable assets.

Another question that has not got adequate attention is whether Thaksin has also been keeping his wealth in the overseas bank accounts? In his asset declaration, he never said he had overseas assets. He only admitted about it after the Shin Corp transaction.

When the Shin Corp deal took place in January 2006, it became public knowledge that he had also had assets in Ample Rich Investments, incorporated in the British Virgins Island.

But it was an open secret in the financial markets about Thaksin's relationship with Ample Rich Investments. Ample Rich held about 10 per cent of Shin Corp stocks worth about Bt16 billion. But then Thaksin claimed that he transferred his interests in Ample Rich to his son Panthongtae well before he entered politics in 2001. So went his perfect script.

After the 1997 baht float, several rich Thais money in the offshore accounts. Korn Chatikavanij of the Democrat Party has called for an investigation into whether Thaksin had kept his assets in the offshore accounts without proper declaration.

For it emerges that there were Win Mark and other secret funds subscribing to the stocks of SC Assets, a property arm of the Shinawatra family, as if they had acted on behalf of the major shareholders.

So how much Thaksin and Pojaman are keeping their wealth in Thailand? Our guess is that it would be probably more than Bt100 billion, with Bt73 billion at least in cash. Any amount beyond this must be kept in overseas bank accounts or other forms of assets.

So Thaksin can use his money in Thailand or in theory his money in offshore accounts to pay Bt7 billion for Manchester City. Now if his request to transfer Bt7 billion out of Thailand reaches Tarisa Watanagase, the Bank of Thailand governor, we'll be curious to know how she would respond.

MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, Tarisa's predecessor, grumbled when he heard that Thaksin would like to raise domestic funds about three years ago to acquire a 30 per cent stake in the Liverpool Football Club for around 70 million pounds. Pridiyathorn would not allow this transaction to take place. Football club is a highrisk high return business.

If the investment in Liverpool melted down, who would assume the responsibility for this deal, which would also involve public money?

But the Manchester City deal, which is impending, involves only Thaksin's money. Still, it is interesting to know how Tarisa would approach this deal.

Thaksin and Khunying Pojaman can't have good night sleeps insofar as the local authorities are going after them for the irregular deals they left behind - from the Ratchada land deal, the questionable stock transfer, the CTX deal, the Ample Rich deal, to other undisclosed overseas transaction deals.

On the other hand, Thaksin might only want to use the Manchester City deal to help his publicity stunt, calling for the world's attention to his plight as he has been ousted from power through a military coup.

All of this riddle should unfold over the coming weeks.

by Political Desk