Ex-Thai PM ordered to pay $512mn in taxes

Thai authorities on Tuesday ordered former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, considered a fugitive, to pay 17.6 billion baht ($512 million) in unpaid taxes and accrued interest.

In the absence of the addressee, who has lived in exile since 2008, a Treasury inspector accompanied by a policeman placed the Revenue Department of Thailand's notice at the entrance of Shinawatra's home in Bangkok's Charansanitwong street, according to the Bangkok Post.

Shinawatra, who ruled Thailand from 2001 until the military coup in 2006, has 30 days from Tuesday to appeal against the payment.

The lawsuit has been filed over the sale of 49.6 per cent of Shin Corp's shares by Shinawatra and his family to Singapore's Temasek Holdings for around $1.9 billion.

The transaction took place on January 23, 2006 after being declared tax free in Thailand.

Eight months later on September 19, Shinawatra was ousted in a coup d'etat carried out by the military while he was at the UN General Assembly in New York, Efe news reported.

Thailand, after a brief return to democracy, is currently governed by another military junta headed by General Prayut Chan-ocha, who in 2014 overthrew the government led by Thaksin's younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra.

--IANS

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