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.
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