Panthongtae Shinawatra

Who is Panthongtae Shinawatra?

Panthongtae Shinawatra, 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 was admitted to the Faculty of Engineering at prestigious Thammasat University in 1998. However, he dropped out after one year. In 2000, he enrolled in Ramkhamhaeng University, an open admission government university, where he studied political science. In August 2002, his studies attracted media attention when he was accused of cheating in an exam. 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 he automatically failed the political science subject he was sitting. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2003.

An amateur photographer, Panthongtae founded a production company called How Come Entertainment, which was awarded an exclusive advertising contract for the Bangkok Metro and many other government contracts when his father was prime minister. This caused controversy and drew charges of nepotism, as How Come was a new firm and the advertising concession for the subway had previously been awarded to the long established Triad Networks Company.