The case came under the spotlight again last week when the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders handed a one-year jail term to Surapong Seubwonglee, former ICT minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra government, for unlawfully amending the Thaicom concession to favour Shin Corp, which was later renamed Intouch.

The court ruled that Surapong violated Article 157 of the Criminal Code and was negligent in his official duty by approving the contract change for the benefit of a private company.

The concession amendment in 2004 allowed Shin/Intouch to reduce its shares in the satellite operator to as low as 40 per cent from the previous requirement of at least 51 per cent as stated in the original contract.

“If the panel concludes that Intouch will have to raise its holding in Thaicom to the original level, the committee will also have to conclude how to do it,” Uttama said late last week.

A Thaicom source said last week’s court ruling had nothing to do with the company. Whether Intouch has to raise its share in Thaicom to 51 per cent depends on the conclusion of the panel and the ministry’s policy, the source said.

In February 2010 the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders ruled that Thaksin was guilty of abuse of power to favour his Shin empire. The amendments affecting Thaicom and Advanced Info Service’s concession were among the cases cited by the court in its verdict.

After the 2010 ruling, the ICT Ministry at that time assigned the existing state-private panels under the AIS and Thaicom concessions to seek ways to rectify the companies’ concession amendments. However, those panels made little progress.

Shin was founded by the Shinawatras before the family divested their combined stakes of almost 50 per cent to a group of companies linked with Temasek Holdings in 2003.

Intouch’s share price last Friday dropped 0.86 per cent to close at Bt57.75, while Thaicom slid 0.45 per cent to close at Bt22.

Uttama said the ministry was also drawing up an overall plan to reform the satellite industry and the space-affairs development plan, which would be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration in two months.