Nearly 600 Thai nationals have been revealed to own offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and other tax havens, including:
-former government minister Nalinee Taveesin; whose assets in the US are frozen for doing business with Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe
-Potjaman Na Pombejra, the ex-wife of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
-musician and energy drink endorser Yuenyong Opakul a.k.a. Carabao
The data on offshore account ownership was made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Nalinee, who is currently Thailand’s international trade representative, was designated as one of four “Mugabe regime cronies” by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). She strongly denied the allegations, saying that her relationship with the Mugabes is “strictly social” and that she is a victim of guilt by association. Analysis of the secret documents obtained by ICIJ appears to show Taveesin and her brother Anuraj Mishra in 2008 bought a company called Hall Kingston International Limited that had recently been incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Thaksin’s ex-wife Potjaman was showed to have purchased an offshore company called Premium Select Inc. that was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 2007.
Other notable Thais found to own companies in offshore tax havens include Chirathivat family, owners of Central Group; Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of Thailand’s biggest sugar company, Mitr Phol Sugar Corp. Ltd; Adm. Banawit Kengrian, the former deputy permanent secretary of defense.
Finally, Yuenyong “Carabao” Opakul was found to have set up Superp Offshore Investment Ltd, based in the Republic of Mauritius, in 2008.
This story is developing.
