Court may rule against Thaksin

Court may rule against Thaksin

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand's Constitutional Court is "highly likely" to rule against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the assets concealment case that threatens to force him out of office, a report said on Sunday.

The Bangkok Post said the court's 15-member bench believed there was enough evidence to suggest the billionaire politician benefited financially from the controversial transfer of shares to his household servants.

"We have to decide if that is a strong enough motive to drive Mr. Thaksin into hiding the information," it quoted an unnamed source close to the court as saying.

The court is also deliberating whether Thaksin shifted the shareholdings under the names of nominees in order to avoid reporting transactions to the Securities Exchange Commission.

"The judges believe that was another motive," the source said. "Mr. Thaksin can't get off the hook with all this information."

The source said most of the 15 judges were likely to rule that Thaksin deliberately concealed the assets in an official assets declaration lodged in 1997 when he served briefly as deputy prime minister.

If the premier is found guilty he faces a five-year ban from politics that would force him to step down as leader despite having won a landslide election victory in January.

However, the court may choose to back-date the banishment to 1997 when the alleged offense occurred, leaving him with only just over a year to sit on the sidelines.

The Constitutional Court hinted last week that the verdict is likely to be handed down in late August.

"It is possible that the prime minister's case will be decided and judged within August," said Constitutional Court judge Jul Adirek. "It is less likely to be finished by early August."