Thailand's former first lady appeals tax-evasion sentence

Bangkok - Pojaman Shinawatra, the former wife of Thailand's fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has appealed a court verdict that found her guilty of tax evasion and carried a sentence of three years in jail, her attorney said Friday. The appeal was accepted by the Criminal Court Thursday and sent to the Appeals Court, lawyer Viraphat Srichaiya said. The Bangkok Criminal Court found Pojaman guilty July 1 of deliberately avoiding payment of 546 million baht (15.9 million dollars) in taxes on the transfer of 4.5 million shares in the family-run Shin Corp to her stepbrother Bannapot Damapong. Pojaman and Bannapot had claimed the shares were a 'gift' and, therefore, not taxable. The court sentenced Pojaman to three years in jail and Bannapot to two years. Although Pojaman's lawyers appealed the verdict, the appeal process was overshadowed by her much-publicized flight from the country. In early August, Pojaman and her then-husband, Thaksin, received court permission to travel to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. On August 10, they flew to London to live in self-imposed exile. Thai authorities issued warrants for the arrests of both Thaksin and Pojaman for jumping bail and failing to return to Thailand to face further charges of abuse of power in a land case. On October 21, the Supreme Court for Political Office Holders found Thaksin guilty of abusing his office as premier in 2003 by allowing Pojaman to successfully bid on a plot of prime land at a government auction. The court sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years in jail, but pardoned Pojaman on the grounds that she had not held political office at the time of the bid. Thaksin, a billionaire businessman turned politician, was prime minister from 2001 to 2006. On November 14, Thaksin divorced Pojaman, registering the legal separation at the Thai consulate in Hong Kong. Close associates said the divorce was for 'legal reasons.' Shortly thereafter, Thaksin announced plans to return to Thai politics. His political allies have hinted that either he or Pojaman might return to Thailand on December 25 on a flight from Hong Kong. The former first couple have been without a country since Britain revoked their tourist visas in early November. Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, is known to own at least one residential building in London, where his three children now live.