Potjaman Na Pombejra

There has been a controversy on whether there is any hidden interest when Thaksin and Potjamn transferred their Shin Corp. shares to their children. Panthongtae and Pinthongtharn Shinawatra were accused of being nominees of their parents. Potjamn transferred her shares to Parnthongtae was said to have been a setup. For Panthongtae’s case, the shares have been sold to him at cost price. Prior the transfer, Panthongtae had written an agreement to settle a ฿4.5billion baht debt for buying 300 million shares of Thai Military Bank(TMB) to Potjaman. In which the real value of TMB share at that time was ฿1.5billion baht. This means that there has been a “fake debt” worth of ฿3billion baht.

The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) later revealed that Panthongtae’s account that receives Shin Corp. dividend has been transferring money to Potjamn’s account exceeds the debt to ฿1.1Billion baht.

Pintongtha was accused of being another nominee of her parents. In response to the accusation, she said that her mother gave her a certain amount of money to buy Shin Corp. shares from her brother, Panthongtae. Potjamn gave money to her daughter to buy 367 million shares of Shin Corp. which leaves Panthongtae an equal number of shares. Pintongtha's account has been receiving dividend from Shin Corp and there has not been any transaction between Pintongtha’s account and Potjamn’s account. However, the money was used to buy SC Asset shares from WinMark worth of ฿71 million baht and buy shares from another five real-estate firms from two funds in 2004 worth of ฿485 million baht.

Bannapot Damapong, Potjaman Shinawatra’s brother-in law, was charged with wealth concealing of Shin Cop. Shares. Bannapot, co-founder of Shin Corp., was believed to own 1.62% of the company’s shares right from the beginning when the company turned public. However, 10.75% was accused of being a nominee to Potjaman Shinawatra. The 10.75% is the separated into two sections. The first section worth of 1.62%, Bannapot used Potjaman’s money to buy the shares to increase his holdings. The 9.13% leftover was accused as being a fraud. The transaction made it look like that Bannapot was buying shares from Potjaman. But the promissory note for buying the shares was accused of being made up after the incident as the name of Potjaman was stated as “Lady Potjaman” where at the time of the transaction; her status was not yet a lady.

On 21 October 2008, the Supreme Court of Thailand's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions delivered a verdict on the Ratchadaphisek Land purchasing case, ruling that:

Thaksin Shinawatra's wife Pojaman Shinawatra, 51, who was found guilty on July 31, 2008, and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, was released on 5 million baht bail. Bangkok Criminal Court Judge Pramote Pipatpramote also convicted her adopted brother Bhanapot Damapong, and her secretary: "The three defendants have high economic and social status. But, they were working together to avoid taxes, even though the taxes amounted to little compared to their assets."

On August 10, 2008, Thaksin and his wife Khunying Potjaman flew to London from Beijing, where he had been attending the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony. In doing so he violated the terms of his bail. Thaksin said that it was his wish to return to Thailand someday, but claimed it was not currently safe enough for him and his family. Thaksin announced his intention to seek political asylum in Britain. His 3 children had reportedly flown ahead to Britain. Meanwhile, Thailand's Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for both Thaksin and his wife for jumping bail.

On November 10, 2008, the Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines) Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin stated "the government would 'politely' turn down any request for political refuge from the fugitive Thai leader, xxx due to Manila’s “friendly” relations with Bangkok. If an applicant for political asylum insists, the first thing the friendly country customarily does is to send him back to his home country. The Department of Foreign Affairs had not received “feelers” that Thaksin wanted haven in the Philippines. Of course, he wouldn’t want to be embarrassed, that’s why I don’t think he would make such a request. He’s no ordinary figure. He’s a former prime minister of Thailand.” Amid Thai newspapers' reports that Thaksin may land in Manila, his brother-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, was set to arrive for a scheduled state visit on November 10 with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (bilateral meeting on regional global financial crisis).

In January 2007, the Financial Institutions Development Fund complied with the Assets Examination Committee request to file a charge against Thaksin and his wife over their purchase of four 772 million baht plots of land from the FIDF in 2003. The charge was based on alleged violation of Section 100 of the National Counter Corruption Act, which specifies that government officials and their spouses are prohibited from entering into or having interests in contracts made with state agencies under their authorisation. However, Section 4 of the Act indicates that persons committing malfeasance must be direct supervisors of the damaged party - in this case, the FIDF. At the time, Bank of Thailand Governor Pridiyathorn Devakula directly supervised the FIDF, not Thaksin. Section 29 of the Bank of Thailand Act of 1942 stated that the Prime Minister did not have jurisdiction to oversee the FIDF, because those managing the fund had sole authority for policies, control, oversight and regulations governing the agency. Pridiyathorn's testimony to the court occurred in secret - Thaksin's legal team was not allowed in the room. The FIDF later noted that the land was sold to the Shinawatras at a price greater than its appraised value. The case went to the Supreme Court 10 July 2007.

On January 23, 2006, the Shinawatra family sold their entire stake in Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings. The Shinawatra and Damapong families netted about 73 billion baht tax-free from the sale, using a regulation that made individuals who sell shares on the stock exchange exempt from capital gains tax.

The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the transaction and cleared the entire family from wrongdoing, except for Potjaman's son, Panthongtae. The SEC did find that Panthongtae committed minor infractions with regard to information disclosure and public tender offers in transactions between 2000 and 2002. He was fined 6 million THB (about 150,000USD). Allegations of insider trading by Potjaman, other Shinawatra family members, Shin Corporation Corp executives, and major shareholders were also investigated. No irregularities were found. On 21 September 2006, the Revenue Department sent a letter to the Shinawatras advising the Shinawatra family not to pay taxes on the transaction. Also in 2006, Revenue Department Director-General Sirot Sawadpanish testified to the military junta's Assets Examination Committee that the transaction was not taxable. The junta investigated Sirot and 6 other senior Ministry of Finance officials for their role in dispensing legal advice regarding the transaction. The AEC demanded that Potjaman testify to the Committee, and threatened to jail her if she did not.

Potjaman was the youngest child and only daughter of Potjanee Na Pombejra and her husband Samoe Damapong, a police general who excelled in his work on crime suppression and investigation and became a Deputy Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police. Samoe Damapong came from a family of Lao origin; his paternal grandfather was an Isan Lao from Nong Khai while his maternal grandmother was a princess of the Na Champassak family. Potjaman and Thaksin married in July 1976, and they went on to have one son, Panthongtae, a businessman, and two daughters, Pinthongta and Paetongtarn. In the late 1970s and 1980s Potjaman worked with Thaksin to develop his various commercial ventures.

Khun Ying Potjaman Na Pombejra (Thai: พจมาน ณ ป้อมเพชร ; RTGS: Photchaman Na Pomphet ), formerly Potjaman Shinawatra (Thai: พจมาน ชินวัตร ; RTGS: Photchaman Chinnawat ), née Soypetpotjaman Damapong (Thai: สร้อยเพชรพจมาน ดามาพงศ์ ; RTGS: Soiphetphotchaman Damaphong ), (born: November 22, 1956), is the ex-wife of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.