Thai appeals court acquits former premier's ex-wife

Aug 24, 2011, 5:58 GMT

Bangkok - A Thai appeals court on Wednesday acquitted the ex-wife of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of charges of tax evasion and providing false testimony, freeing her from a three-year jail term.

The acquittal comes after the victory of the Pheu Thai Party, of which Thaksin is the de facto leader, in the July 3 general election.

The Bangkok Appeals Court found that there had been insufficient evidence in a 2008 lower court ruling that found Pojaman na Pombejra guilty of conspiring with her adopted brother Bhanapot Damapong in avoiding taxes on a share transfer transaction worth 738 million baht (24.6 million dollars).

The court, however, upheld the tax evasion conviction against Bhanapot and ordered him to pay 546 million baht in taxes plus a fine of 100,000 baht.

Bhanapot was acquitted of the other charges of conspiring to evade taxes in the transaction and providing false testimony. His two-year jail term was reduced to a suspended sentence.

'The Revenue Department's main task is to collect taxes, not to put people in jail,' the Appeals Court judge said.

Pojaman is the ex-wife of former prime minister Thaksin who was ousted by a coup in 2006 and is living abroad as a fugitive from a two-year jail sentence on an abuse of power conviction.

Thaksin's conviction also involved his then wife, who allegedly benefited from his position as prime minister in 2003 in the purchase of a prime plot of land in Bangkok at a government auction.

The land recently sold at twice the price Pojaman paid for it.

Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra became Thailand's first female prime minister on August 5 following the electoral victory of the Pheu Thai party last month.

It is widely acknowledged that the party's de facto leader and key financier is Thaksin, a former billionaire telecommunications tycoon who was prime in minister between 2001 and 2006.

One of the party's campaign slogans was 'Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai does.'