AEC freezes Bt4.7 bn more

The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) yesterday froze another Bt4.7 billion of the proceeds from the sale of Shin Corp shares by the Shinawatra family to Temasek Holdings of Singapore, bringing the total amount frozen so far to Bt64 billion.
Spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said the AEC's fourth suspension order applied to two accounts in Bangkok Bank that held Bt2.7 billion and Bt1 billion and a Siam Commercial Bank account holding Bt1 billion. All the accounts belonged to Bhanapot Damapong, brother-in-law of ousted premier Thakisn Shinawatra.The AEC is still trying to locate Bt4.275 billion of the Bt19 billion transferred to Bhanapot from the Shin Corp deal. Sak said the AEC also issued a third correction to an earlier order to freeze money from the deal in a Thanachart Bank account, raising the amount frozen from Bt13 million to Bt1 billion. The amount in the account increased after a Thanachart Bank cheque for Bt986 million, which was covered by the AEC's third freeze order, was deposited. "The reason we have to correct the order is that there have been transfers from account to account. There are still changes to these accounts each day," he said. The AEC's first three orders froze Bt44.08 billion, Bt8.8 billion, and Bt4.96 billion, respectively, of the Bt73.3 billion earned from the Shin sale. It is trying to trace the remaining Bt10.76 billion.
|