Panthongtae Shinawatra

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Panthongtae Shinawatra (born December 2, 1979) (Thai: พานทองแท้ ชินวัตร), nickname Oak, is the only son of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He became a billionaire after having been given a large portion of his father's stock in Shin Corporation which transferred to him shortly before Thaksin ascended to the position of prime minister.

Panthongtae first attended Thammasat University and then transferred to Ramkhamhaeng University in 2000, where he studied political science. In August 2002, his studies attracted media attention when he was accused of cheating in an exam.^[1] A three-week university investigation concluded that Panthongtae had made a mistake by carrying unrelated notes into the exam room and he was cleared of wrongdoing, yet automatically failed the political science subject he was sitting.^[2] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2003. However, this has already destroyed his name and reputation.

A photographer, Panthongtae has founded a production company called How Come Entertainment, which gained an exclusive advertising contract for the Bangkok Metro and many more government contracts (His father was the Prime Minister at the time). This deal caused controversy and drew claims of nepotism, however, as How Come was a new firm and a sole advertising concession for the subway had previously been awarded to Triad Networks Co.^[3]

In early 2006, Panthongtae was involved in his family's sale of Shin Corporation stock to Temasek Holdings of Singapore. Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that Panthongtae, as director of Ample Rich Investments (a shell company set up in the British Virgin Islands to control Shin stock), had failed to properly notify the regulators of his holdings in Shin and sale of Shin shares, in transactions that occurred in 2000, 2001 and 2002.^[4]

"The case is not severe because Panthongtae did inform the SEC but his report was not totally correct," said the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission's deputy chief Prasong Vinaiphat.^[5] He was fined 5.982 million baht (about 150,000USD) for three violations of the Securities and Exchange Act. Shinawatra's families are now being investigated from the Thai Ministry of Internal Affairs, under Thai's new Junta government.