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BANGKOK - Thai prosecutors filed new charges against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Friday, accusing him of amending laws to benefit his telecoms empire in the years before he was ousted in a 2006 coup.
The Supreme Court will decide in September whether the billionaire tycoon should stand trial on the charges, which allege the legislative changes cost the Thai state 66 billion baht ($1.96 billion) in lost telecom concession revenues.
At the heart of the case are changes the Thaksin government made between 2001 and 2006 in the way private telecoms companies paid concession fees so they could operate on state-owned communication networks.
The charge sheet, prepared by investigators appointed by the coupmakers in 2006, also accused Thaksin of using his son, daughter, brother-in-law and sister as nominee shareholders in offshore companies to conceal his assets.
If the case goes to trial and Thaksin is convicted, he could face up to 10 years in jail, prosecutors said. The court will decide whether to hear the case on Sept. 3.
Thaksin, who was accused by the coup generals of "rampant corruption" and abuse of power during his 5 years in office, is already on trial on other graft charges. Thaksin has denied any wrongdoing.
The $1.9 billion, tax-free sale of Shin Corp to Singapore state investment firm Temasek in early 2006 intensified a street campaign against Thaksin that led to his ouster. Thailand's five-month-old coalition government, elected in December on a promise to revive Thaksin's populist policies, is reeling from a series of damaging court rulings this week.
Two ministers and a top politician from the People Power Party (PPP), which leads the six-party coalition, quit or were banned from politics after verdicts by top judges.
Other legal cases against Thaksin and the coalition government are expected to come to a head in the coming weeks The Election Commission will decide on Wednesday whether Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a popular TV chef before he became premier, has violated the constitution by working for a private company that broadcasts his cooking shows.
If the Constitutional Court agrees with the EC, a decision that could take months, Samak would be forced to quit, analysts said.
In another case, the EC and public prosecutors agreed on Friday to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on whether two small coalition partners were guilty of vote-buying in the 2007 election.
A similar investigation of the PPP is due to begin next week, EC officials said. If found guilty, the parties would be disbanded and their executives barred from politics for five years.
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