Dogmatix

Of course they don't want to kick out the biker gangs that are involved in serious crime like selling property with fraudulent title deeds in Samui, extorting farang businesses, drugs and even murder but those ones cultivate good relationships with local cops and pay them off.

Yes, that was introduced in about 2002 which meant those continuously on retirement extensions for about 6 years were grandfathered in at the old lump sum of 200k. You have to keep on getting consecutive extensions to maintain it or you get bumped up to the 800k.

This is a very feeble rebuttal by Sansiri. The company was not accused of tax avoidance or evasion itself by Chuvit. He accused them of aiding and abetting tax avoidance and possibly evasion. The sellers couldn't have done this without Sansiri's cooperation in a highly convoluted process that also involved the better part of a billion baht in cash flying about which is clear sign of understatement of the sales price for tax purposes. This is all highly unethical and weak corporate governance. Even if everyone else does it, Srettha is the CEO who has been caught doing it and Sansiri has not attempted to deny the aiding and abetting because it can't.

Surachet is correct in saying that sellers aim to lessen tax payments but I am not sure that the method used is really legal as he implies. It would be a huge loophole, that any group of owners could use. Therefore no point in having the provision to tax groups of owners as a partnership. The other issue is that nearly half was paid in cash, according to Chuvit and the tax paid is extremely low, even though they were taxed as individuals. Chuvit's implication is that the cash payments were to allow the sellers to understate the price to evade, not avoid tax, in this case. Chuvit suggested the total tax payable by a partnership would have 521 million vs the 59 million actually paid. Of course understating sales prices is also common practice, even though Surachet didn't mention it. With sales price claimed by Chuvit to be 4 million a sq wah, the appraised price must have been much lower than that in 2019 making understatement easy to to. I recall it was big news when appraised value hit 1 million a sq wah in Silom in the latest 2023 re-appraisal and that was said to the highest in the country. So Sarasin Road in 2019 must have been a lot lower than that. In the original article, which came from another source not mentioned by Thaiger, Surachet mentioned the common practice of property developers buying land through companies owned by family members of executives and then selling on to their company at a risk free profit. This was in response to Chuvit's allegation that Sansiri used an agent or nominee to buy the land. If the land was bought by nominees and then sold on to Sansiri at a profit that would be a related party transaction that would have to be reported to the SEC but Sansiri has not reported any related party transactions since before the sale. I can vouch for the fact that this practice of taking a chunk out of the middle of land purchases is common for listed property developers and other listed companies that buy land. I have even heard CEOs boasting about making easy money this way. However, it is theft from the minority shareholders pure and simple. Even though all 3 of these practices are commonplace, they all amount to serious breaches of good governance and ethical behaviour. Aiding and abetting tax avoidance is unethical, while aiding and abetting tax evasion is criminal. So much for some guy whose only sin amounts to holding a tiny block of worthlessshares in a media company that has been defunct for nearly 20 years.

When you take into account that it is about 20 years since all the financial hurdles were revised for retirement and marriage extensions as well as for PR and citizenship applications, it is inevitable that these will all be bumped up in the not too distant future, even though it will, of course, do nothing to keep out criminals. The previous lump sum requirement for retirement extensions was 200k. So they are capable of bumping it up hugely when it hasn't been raised for a long time. But the good news is that people who had been on retirement extensions for a few years at the time were grandfathered in at the old price which still applies to them today, if they are still alive and kicking. I am pretty sure they will also grandfather people in at 800k, when they bump it up, to prevent a backlash and complaints of people having to leave the country.

Exactly right. The Immigration Act is from the 70s and is very out of date and doesn't even mention retirement or marriage extensions, which only came in in the 90s, but Immigration can change most of the important details by issuing police orders that get published in the Royal Gazette and have the force of law. Definitely they should check criminal records for any long term visas. US embassies and consulates also have a standing order to refer visa applications from anyone with a background in motorcycle gangs to the State Department which denies their visas, unless there are exceptionally good reasons to approve them. Visa applicants are obliged to give details of all social media accounts and can be denied for withholding any. Thailand would do well to issue a police order banning anyone with a background in motorcycle gangs too and get rid of all the foreign Bandidos and other motorcycle scum. If the US can do it, why not Thailand, rather than wringing hands and allowing local officials to continue pocketing bribes from these criminals.

Thaksin doesn't fly on commercial carriers.

Sretha lying.mp4

Ha ha ha. Anyway it was predictable that Tony was not coming home at this point. It was just a smokescreen to distract attention from PT's unsavory dealings with the uncle parties. Now they have finally pulled the chain on MFP, it's plain for all to see. So no more point in keeping the smokescreen going. Bad luck for Tony that the constitution court has delayed the PM vote. Tony was obviously counting on it being today and having the PM job under his controls. Now there is more time for people to contemplate what he has done in trashing democracy. Also more time for people to get their minds around Srettha's role in signing off on the sales structure of the piece of land on Sarasin that looks very much as if Sansiri colluded in tax evasion by agreeing to transact the purchase of a single title deed for a rai of land into 12 separate transactions on 12 different days. This should probably have been treated as a partnership for tax purposes, rather than 12 individual sales, since all names were on the sole title deed. Even if Sansiri didn't benefit, it looks like a major breach of corporate governance and ethics to allow a structure that looks like it was designed to evade tax. The Land Department officials and the sellers will also have some interesting questions to answer. Such a weird sales structure involving the withdrawal of hundreds of millions in cash could not have been approved by anyone other than the CEO, Srettha. The seller family's tax adviser screwed up by telling them to put all the names on the deed, instead of breaking it up into 12 different deeds which have made it totally legit to tax as individual sales.

Ung Ing also announced when she was appointed "head of the PT family" that the party would amend 112 because it was used as a political weapon (as well known by many of her dad's red shirts who are rotting in jail for LM). She was roundly attacked by Prawit's party spokesman for this but PPRP and the senators seem to have forgotten about it, although Srettha's announcement of support for amending 112 on the campaign trail is more recent and still remembered with help from Chuvit who has been promoting clips of it.

Property taxes explained and what you need to know. A helpful guide from Sansiri. https://www.sansiri.com/en/news/thai-property-taxes-explained-what-you-need-to-know-286/

Sansiri purchased a rai of land on Sarasin Road for 1.57 bn. There were 12 owners on the deed, each with specified percentage ownership ranging from 5% to 40%. The sellers should have been treated as unregistered partnership for tax purposes and there are tax cases establishing precedent for this. That would mean withholding tax deducted at the land office but the partnership should have filed a PND 90 return for the year and would have paid tax at 35% on the profit less whatever w/h tax deducted at the land office. The land was acquired in 1984 from the Sarasin family, so must have been a lot of profit to pay tax on. Chuvit claims that the fact that the sale was broken up into 12 separate transfers on 12 consecutive working days, even though it was a single title deed makes it obvious that the intent of the sellers to avoid being considered as a partnership. Otherwise why would you do it like that? However, Chuvit didn't produce evidence that they didn't file tax as a partnership which would be impossible anyway, if they really didn't. Plus a large portion of was paid in cash which looks suspicious. Total tax paid on the transfer was 59m. Of this 2% must have been transfer tax and 0.5% stamp duty for a total of 39.25m leaving only about 20m paid as w/h tax. This looks understated even if the seller were entitled to tax treatment as individual sellers. If correctly taxed as partnership, the total income tax would probably have been around 450m. So including the transfer tax and stamp duty, Chuvit's figure of 521m looks right on the button. Total tax paid on the transfer was 59m. Of this 2% must have been transfer tax and 0.5% stamp duty for a total of 39.25m leaving only about 20m paid as w/h tax. This looks on the low side even if the seller were entitled to tax treatment as individual sellers. If correctly taxed as a partnership, the total income tax would probably have been around 450m. So including the transfer tax and stamp duty, Chuvit's figure of 521m looks right on the button. An interesting side effect of the constitutional court delaying the PM vote will to give time to allow this unsavory piece of news to be understood and fully digested. The uncles don't like Srettha and would would prefer Ung Ing to him, if it has to be PT. Srettha voiced support for the MFP policy to amend 112 on the campaign trail which makes the senators wary of him, plus his past association with Yingluck make him unappealing to them. (Ung Ing is also on record as saying PT would amend 112 in 2021 but she she is less likely to go rogue as PM, as she is directly controlled by Thaksin.) It also brings the possibility of Prawit or Anutin as PM closer to reality. The chart below is from Chuvit's press conference. It shows all 12 transactions with the amount of tax paid on each and the proportion of cash paid to each seller.

It’s interesting that both Ung Ing and Srettha are on record promoting PT’s policy to amend 112 to prevent it from being used as a political weapon. Thaksin, according to Wikileaks, told US Ambassador John that 112 needed to be abolished for Thailand ti have a hope of democracy. Amazing volts face by PT and Palang Pracharat which attacked Ung Ing and PT not long ago for their amendment stance which was affirmed and defended by the PT spokeswoman at the time. But Thais have very short memories when they can smell brown envelopes.

PT does seem on track for dropping down to being medium size party on a par with BJP but things can change quickly in politics. Thaksin has highly paid consultants analyzing what went wrong in the last elections and how to fix it. Note that the puppet Sreth has already been told to adopt some of MFP’s policies that proved popular with voters, eg abolition of conscription.

I don’t think so. Thaksin desperately wants to be a part of the so-called elite, himself.

Exactly. Just find a dodgy clinic that will issue the certificate without any tests. Theoretically you could pass by getting a certificate to say you had syph but not stage 3. But why put yourself to that trouble and expense to play by the rules when no one else does in such a corrupt country?

I left the island on Sun 30 July myself. I am so glad I anticipated this and managed to get to the ferry terminal at 8.15 am. I was able to park inside the terminal and was on a boat by 8.50. At the mainland terminal at Aow Yhammanat the system for paying was more efficient. Just drive past a booth and pay cash. No ticket issued. On the Koh Chang side you have to park and walk to a ticket office where you are pointlessly asked for your car registration number which no one looks at on the ticket. So you can give them any 4 digits, if you can’t remember it. (Mine was slightly wrong).. A woman has a full time job going up the queues asking to see tickets and sending people who thought there would be a drive past pay booth scuttling off to queue at the ticket office, hoping to get back in time before their row rolls off creating a queue of irate drivers behind.

I think it possible that David's harsh talking friend was overlooked or deliberately put to the back of the queue but may have been put back in the queue somewhere around the middle following his and his wife's harsh words. It always seems worth going out there, if you feel genuinely behind schedule but politeness is recommended, however frustrated one may feel. The staff have to put up with enquiries all day long and most are from minorities who often have no clue how the system works (I sat in their office for a few hours waiting for my interview). They get frustrated too and most of the errors are likely caused by someone else.

But we are banned from politics under the constitution. Any those who are Thai from birth are eligible.

Nevertheless it is a question that many people ask which is not surprising, given the level of corruption in Thailand. In fact, if you ask many lawyers and brokers, they will tell you a substantial bribe is essential which they can arrange discretely for you. Then they will proceed to pocket the whole lot for themselves and spend the next 3 years coming up with excuses as to why the client's citizenship wasn't expedited as promised. I know someone going through this at the moment. He ignored my advice not to pay the expressway fee to the lawyer who is now claiming that the Chinese have bid up the bribes so much that he needs to make a top up payment to be taken seriously. 555

I like this approach because, although it is not very practical, it would place enormous pressure on the senate which has created this impasse. The 7 MFP coalition partners had no trouble with MFP's section 112 policy as it was omitted from the MOU and they were expecting to be given cabinet portfoliosby MFP they could make money out of. But now the tide has turned they have all suddenly realised they can't give their support to a coalition that includes MFP.

There will be another batch of appointed senators without the right to vote for the PM.

You are right. It was planned all along with Thaksin but the unexpected MFP victory threw a spanner in the works. With a majority in the lower house and the current senate controlled by Prawit sitting till May, they will have the numbers and time to re-write the constitution and organic laws.

There were rumours long before the election that negotiations had been ongoing about Thaksin letting Prawit (or Prayut) be PM in return for letting him come home scot free when Thaksin was fantacising about a landslide PT victory. Since Prawit controls most of the senate vote, there is logic to that. Sretha is not considered reliable or likely to survive long by the old guard and Thaksin will have to pay billions to get the senate to vote for him. One look at Sretha tells that he is not cut out for the dirty world of politics and, since he lacks his own faction in PT, he is attractive to Thaksin as he cannot be his own man.