Land and Houses Plc (LH), one of the country's largest housing developers, is playing down the Department of Special Investment (DSI) summons of its founder and major shareholder, Anant Asavabhokin, to answer money-laundering charges over land sales tied to an embezzlement case.
"No impact at all," Mr Anant said in a written reply to the Bangkok Post through WhatsApp.
He said he was perplexed because the DSI had not interrogated or summoned him before.
The DSI yesterday issued a summons for the property tycoon, saying investigators had found clear evidence of links to money laundering in the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC) embezzlement case.
Former KCUC chairman Supachai Srisupa-aksorn used money drawn from KCUC to buy 46 rai of land owned by M-Home STV 2 Co near Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district.
Supachai is currently serving a 16-year jail sentence after admitting to siphoning money from KCUC accounts in 2013.
The 46 rai was sold on Dec 23, 2011 to Mr Anant for 93.7 million baht, well below the estimated value of 281 million baht, the DSI's initial investigation concluded.
The deal caused damage to KCUC, and officials also found that no payment was actually made.
Mr Anant later sold the land for 492 million baht and allegedly donated 303 million baht of the money to the Chan Khonnokyoong Foundation, overseen by the founder and former abbot of Wat Dhammakaya, Phra Dhammajayo.
The former abbot is on the run, wanted on a charge of laundering money and receiving stolen property in connection with the KCUC embezzlement.
Mr Anant, who is LH's chief executive and chairman, holds a 24% stake in the property developer, which in turn owns 24% of Quality Houses Plc (QH), 34% of Land and Houses Financial Group Plc (LH Bank), 30.2% of Home Product Center Plc (HomePro) and a sizeable stake in Siam Retail Development, which runs the popular Terminal 21 shopping mall.
Mr Anant also serves as chairman of LH Bank. He was the 26th richest person in Thailand as ranked by Forbes in 2016, with a wealth of US$925 million.
Under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules, an executive of a listed company must be banned from his or her position in cases where a court rules to seize the executive's assets after a breach of money-laundering laws.
Mr Anant's situation does not meet that standard yet, said Pariya Techamuanvivit, the SEC's director of corporate affairs.
Stock analysts underscored Mr Anant's comment that the charge would have no impact on SET-listed LH and its group.
Therapong Vachirapong, managing director for research at Phatra Securities, said the allegation is an individual issue and Mr Anant has not been involved in the day-to-day operations of LH for a long time.
"Even though Mr Anant holds many positions in LH's group, they are policymaking titles," Mr Therapong said. "The current executives can continuously run the business."
Therdsak Thaveethiratham, executive vice-president of Asia Plus Securities, voiced confidence that LH and its group could proceed with operations.
"It's a personal issue and each business operation has executives who directly manage business," Mr Therdsak said.
A source at LH said the property developer's business plan remains on track.
Investors unloaded LH and related shares yesterday. LH fell 4% to 9.55 baht in trade worth 725 million baht, QH fell 0.8% to 2.42 baht in trade worth 60.2 million baht, and LHBANK fell 1.7% to 1.73 baht in trade worth 71.4 million baht.
