Dogmatix

Chuwit wants alleged triad boss Yu Xingqi prosecuted under Section 112. This is Thailand's infamous Lese Majeste law. He is claiming that Yu appeared with senior public figures like PM Prayuth Chan-ocha and members of the royal family to gain credence from investors in the UK and China. That is an interesting angle from Chuvit. A few years ago a British criminal, Tony Kenway, was murdered by farang hitmen, apparently on the orders of a farang rival, in Pattaya and the hitmen were somehow allowed to escape. Like Yu Xingqi Kenway also contrived to be photographed with members of the Thai Royal Family which was probably designed to make him and his criminal enterprise appear respectable to potential victims. Without well connected Thai associates it would be impossible for these foreign criminals to gain access to the Royal Family. Surely Chuvit could make a case for prosecuting those who provided the access under Section 112. In the case of Kenway it was allegedly a political family in Chonburi, the patriach of which served a token amount of time behind bars for murder and corruption. Prosecuting only the foreign criminals would leave the essential Thai accomplices unpunished. .

Chuvit's revelations are to be applauded but the timing of them must have something to with the upcoming general election.

Above is a google translation of the source article from SVT Nyheter.Seems that the charges are related to invasion of privacy. The SVT Nyheter headline says he was running a sex network in Thailand but there is nothing in the article to support the sensationalist headline. It definitely seems unlikely that he could have taken all 75k odd photographs and 20k odd videos himself, even though there is a suggestion that he obtained pornagraphic footage from video calls. As others have suggested, it sounds more like he lifted stuff from the internet and repackaged it in a way that it could be monetized in Thailand where most of the customers are located. In this case, it seems unlikely that he acted alone with Thai accomplices. How could a 23 Swedish guy be so fluent in Thai and knowledgeable of the underground porn culture that he could beat the locals at their own game and make good money from it. There is no suggesting that Thai police are bothering to take action against any accomplices in Thailand and probably the won't because they will be paid off and the Swedish guy will be the only person prosecuted. I have seen some Thai LINE groups where people upload some porn, usually soft core, and show the FB or Instagram pages of the model which they may have tracked down through some kind of facial recognition software. Perhaps he did something similar and maybe his value to the Thai crooks was that he was an IT guy. Just guessing because the article provides very little meaningful information to go with its sensationalist headline.

Possibly but only a small percentage of cops have the chance to shake down foreign tourists. The implications of his plan to deem possession of more than one speed pill as intent to sell are far wider and will create much more earning possiblities for cops all over the country, specially the ones in the drug trade themselves who constantly resell the same stash after busting their customers.

There is no logic to this man's decisions, except financial enrichment for himself, his boss and their cronies. I don't like vapes around me but banning them in law but allowing them to be sold everywhere online and physically and then cracking down on tourism vapers is ridiculous. Also allowing cannibis smoking but not vapes for health reaons makes no sense. Another terrible decision is the legal amendment he is introducing to make possesson of two or more speed pills considered dealing with automatic tough prison sentences. The law had only recently been liberalised to allow those caught with up to 15 speed tabs to be sentences to rehab for first offence which made a lot of sense. The prisons are already horribly overcrowded with drug offenders and sending someone there turns them into a hardened criminal with little or no chance of decent employment or rehabilitation afterwards. The speed decision is purely political to make it look like he is in fact tough on drugs before the election despite decriminalising cannabis under the smoke screen of medical use and the pretence that ordinary farmers could make money out of it. I didn't disagree with decriminalising cannabis but his motives show him to be a truly odious, self serving politician.

The problem was his insistence on putting those silly sunshields in the windscreen.

I had a usufruct before we registered our marriage, as advised by a lawyer. There are two problems with usufruct after marriage: 1) assets acquired after marriage are deemed marital property to be divided in the event of divorce; 2) under the Civil and Commercial Code a contract between man and wife can be deemed null and void by a court on the basis that, in this case, the wife was under undue influence from the husband who forced her to enter into an unfavorable contract. Probably a court would not hesitate to nullify a usufruct in favour of a foreign husband. In that case there is no longer an asset left even to divide up in the case of divorce. I assume a lease would be treated the same. The advantage of a usufruct seems that it is stronger than a lease and not subject to a 30 year limit. Thailand doesn't have developed property leasing laws. So a alease is just a common contract binding two parties under the Civil and Commercial Code. It doesn't bind anyone else, such as a new owner, if the land is sold or inherited, whereas there is a Supreme Court judgement that ruled a usufruct should survive the death of the original usufructor until the death of the usufructee. At the end of the day, if the land is in her village, you had been scarper if the marriage breaks down and the family will probably want you gone, if she dies too. Nevertheless, I think a usufruct is probably worth the cost, particularly if not in the wife's village. It is an encumbrance on the title deed that makes it more difficult for anyone to sell the land from under you. Even if you are already married, it is still a extra knot to be unravelled before kicking you out.

The current administration at the MOI is probably gearing up for elections and and may be losing focus on peripheral actvities. It is also possible that they prefer to avoid doing things to do with citizenship while the current witchhunt goes on for Chinese "triads" with Thai citizenship, even though only one has been found to my knowledge. It has been made a political issue as Pheua Thai has been blaming the current interior minister for signing Tuhao's citizenship application while government points out that his application was actually approved by Yingluck's interior minister on the recommendation of the interior ministry's screening committee which includes represenatives frm other government agencies, while Anuphong merely signed to put the announcement in the RG.

REnting a motorbike looks like a fun thing to do and rental shops are happy to rent them to people without motorcycle licences with no problems from corrupt cops they pay off. But a certain percentage of tourists end up dead or like this. Not worth it.

Most of the gamblers in Monaco are Italians and French who drive over the border. They mainly looked pretty downmarket the times I went there. The glamour is just in the movies.

One would expect them to get around to exempting PRs at some point but it might not be in the first round.

Thai law requires overstayers be deported to their country of nationality. However, it seems that this guy will be extradited to Poland rather than deported. What else can Thai authorities do with him in either case? Wait for Canada or Australia to offer him political asylum?

Nothing. It is all going to go into the pockets of crooks.

Softening of demand? What better time to impose a special money grubbing fine on foreign tourists which will know will all be stolen by crooks?

Sadly the NACC is a broken reed, knobbled by Gen Watchman through Pol Gen Wach.

This obvious posturing for political brownie points by Anutin to make himself look tough on drugs after legalizing “medical” marijuana - wink wink. Sadly his political gambit will come at the cost of thousands of families whose lives will be ruined due to a family member getting jailed for a petty offense.

Or like those meth pills that cops slip into your vehicle while searching it at a road block on a dark night.

The only way to lend money to Thais is through a Khai Faak contract with their land title deed as collateral but, of course you need a Thai citizen you trust to put the contract in their name. The missus and I have done about a dozen of these in recent years. Each time the borrower said they would definitely pay back because the land is dear to them, as they inherited it or something similar. Of all of these contracts only two were paid back. The rest were defaulted on. But the beauty of Khai Faak contracts is that the lender doesn't have to take legal action to get the land transferred to their name. The contract is made in the Land Department with lender's name added to the deed like a mortgage. When the borrower defaults at the end of the contract, the land becomes the lender's property automatically with no further action or re-registration required. The only problem is that the borrower may pester you for years after defaulting trying to get their land back. Often they request a special price, saying they are going to get a loan from the BAAC Bank to buy back the land. The appointed date for BAAC laon comes and you hear nothing from them, or maybe a bunch of excuses. The missus insisted on doing some loans of her own money without Khai Faak contracts to people she felt sorry for, either with a mortgage registered or just a written agreement and a copy of the title ded. You can guess the result - 100% default rate. The The mortgage is recoverable but you have to go to court which is a hassle and you have to pay money for a lawyer. The written agreement only loans are realistically not recoverable. I have made it clear to all who ask - no Khai Faak, no loand and I have to be satisfied with the land offered and want to own it myself. But the OP is talking about a totally unsecured loan which sounds utterly unrecoverable. It is probably a kilo of brickweed produced with pesticides that he could only sell for 2,500 baht on FB, if he's lucky.

No meaningful stats or information from this article.

Tuhao was granted Thai citizenship in December 2015.

Strange that they didn't manage to do that 10 or more years ago like other countries.

It doesn't matter much. Next year the Senate's power to vote for the PM will lapse anyway.

He fled into exile after the 2014 coup and hasn't been back. I think the initial charges against were to do with illegal logging but probably could get enough evidence to stick. If you look at his Wiki entry you can understand why they have been trying to charge him for 9 years. His father was a member of the Seri Thai and fought the Japanese occupiers in WW2. BTW I am not a fan of Thaksin and his family. "The junta ordered all cabinet members to report to their headquarters, but unlike other politicians Charupong refused to turn himself in. He claims to have taken shelter at an unspecified place in Northeastern Thailand.[7][8] As a consequence, the National Council for Peace and Order blocked his bank accounts and assets.[9] On 24 June 2014, Charupong announced the formation of the Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (OFHD),[10] seeking to restore Thai popular sovereignty in the face of the 2014 Thai coup d'état. The date chosen is the 82nd anniversary of the Siamese Revolution of 1932. The organisation's name recalls the Thai underground resistance movement against Imperial Japan during World War II known as the Free Thai Movement (Thai: เสรีไทย, Seri Thai).[11] On 24 June 2015, Charupong, acting as Secretary-General of OFHD, in a video uploaded on YouTube warned Thais of the risk Thailand turning into a failed state and detailed three goals of OFHD: (1) abolition of the Privy Council, (2) depoliticization/democratization/normalization of the Thai Army, and (3) depoliticization of the Thai judiciary."

Checked out the coffee shop. It's worth a visit.

I got two bottles of THC oil prescribed by a herbal clinic for 600 baht each. Brand name is Ajarn Decho or something similar. The stuff is dark green (I think due to vegetable dye) and tastes awful, presumably to stop you from overdoing it. I took it as prescribed and a little more but it does nothing at all. It has a label saying that 30 days after the prescription date it turns into an illegal drug under cat. 5 the Narcotics Act, as more than 0.2% THC. I doubt it is really more than 0.2% but I am going to chuck it out anyway, as it is a total rip off.