Panthongtae Shinawatra, son of Thailand's ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, on Wednesday appeared before Thailand's Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to clarify the Shin Corp shares transaction in which he was centrally involved, amid tight security.

As expected, a huge crowd -- including a flock of media personnel -- packed the compound of the Office of the Auditor- General of Thailand (OAG) which is also the AEC's office.

Security was strictly imposed with both military and police officers guarding the venue in order to prevent any untoward incidents, as it was hard to identify who among the huge crowd they are, between supporters or opponents of Thaksin's family or other groups with possible ill-intention, the Thai News Agency reported.

Arriving at around 11 a.m. (0400 GMT) as scheduled, Panthongtae, accompanied by his youngest sister Paethongtharn and a team of lawyers, had to squeeze hard to get through the crowd of the journalists and some of his supporters who showed up to give him moral support.

This was the first time that Panthongtae appeared before the AEC since the panel ruled that he and his sister are among those involved in the tax-free Shin Corp share transaction allegedly in violation of Thai law, in terms of tax evasion.

Two of Thaksin's children, Panthongtae and Pinthongta, and Kanjanapa Honghern, a secretary of Mr. Thaksin's wife Khunying Pojaman, were previously scheduled to appear before the panel in late December, but the three requested for postponement of their appearances to this month.

The AEC subcommittee agreed to postpone Panthongtae's testimony to Jan. 10, Pinthongta to Jan. 24 and Kanjanapa to Jan. 12.

The probe panel is looking into alleged tax evasion in the 329 million share transfer deal involving Panthongtae and Pinthongta.

The two bought the shares outside the stock market at one baht apiece last year while the market value at the time was 47.25 baht (about 1.31 U.S. dollars) per share. They later sold the shares to Singapore's Temasek Holdings, making a whopping profit which the AEC maintains must be taxed.

Source: Xinhua