Thailand's ITV seeks injunction on $4.3b fines, fees

The Straits Times, February 21, 2007


BANGKOK - ITV, a Thai television network controlled by Singapore's Temasek Holdings, sought a court injunction on about 100 billion baht (S$4.29 billion) in fines, fees and interest it has been ordered to pay the government.

The company asked Thailand's administrative court to separate a 2.2 billion baht (S$94.4 million) back-fee payment and a 97.8 billion baht fine it has been ordered to pay by early next month, ITV spokesman Ramida Prutkumut said by telephone in Bangkok yesterday.

ITV wants the court to also grant it a 30-day extension to pay the fees after it rules on the separation, she said.

Thailand's Supreme Administrative Court on Dec 13 ordered ITV to pay the back fees plus interest and fines by Jan 29.

The company has proposed paying the back fees only, while the government has given it until March 3 to pay both, ITV said in a stock exchange filing yesterday. Holidays in Thailand mean that the real deadline is March 6, Ms Ramida said.

'If the court helps us to separate the debts, this will give us more of a chance to get interested parties to help pay the back fees,' she said.

'We hope the court will protect us so we can continue to operate.'

The fine should be payable only after an arbitration tribunal decides whether the amount is reasonable and conditions fair, Ms Ramida said.

Yesterday's submission also asks the court to prevent the government from cancelling ITV's licence so it can continue to broadcast after the payment deadline, she said.

ITV risks having its broadcast licence revoked if it fails to pay within the extended deadline, Mr Julayuth Hiranyawisit, permanent secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, said on Jan 30.

It has a 30-year concession to operate the only network of six in Thailand that is not owned by the government or the military,

ITV and its parent Shin Corp were founded by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a Sept 19 coup.

The government has rejected appeals by ITV to delay payment of the fine. The company in January proposed that the government take a controlling stake to offset the back fees, or allow it to pay in instalments.

The broadcaster appealed directly to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont earlier this month, and has not received a response, Ms Ramida said yesterday.

'To pay 100 billion baht in 30 days is impossible - it is a huge amount of money,' ITV chairman Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan said on Feb 2.

'If the Prime Minister does not accept our appeal, we have to accept the consequences of having our licence revoked.'

ITV has 1.3 billion baht in cash and has found investors willing to buy new shares it plans to issue to help pay the 2.2 billion baht in back fees, Mr Niwattumrong said then.

Still, the government's demand for the fine repayment and interest 'really scares away the investors we have been talking to', he said.

The broadcaster became profitable for the first time in 2004 after four years of losses, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. ITV posted record high profits of 679.1 million baht in 2005.

The Prime Minister's Office is the government agency that grants television licences.

ITV was granted reduced concession fees and a cut in the number of hours it had to devote to news and educational programming by an arbitration panel about two years ago. Thai courts overturned the panel's decisions and ordered ITV to pay back fees and fines, and restore programming to 70 per cent news and education.

Temasek early last year led a group of investors in acquiring more than 96 per cent of Shin Corp from investors including Mr Thaksin's family.

The deal exacerbated protests and a political stalemate in Thailand that culminated in the coup.

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