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British man investigated over 120 rai Krabi land

Thai authorities are investigating a British national and three interconnected companies in Krabi over suspected nominee shareholding arrangements linked to more than 120 rai of land worth about Bt2 billion.

The Department of Business Development (DBD) said the companies, which are alleged to have used cross-shareholdings, hold around 22 land plots and have openly advertised the land for sale. Officials are considering possible land revocation and criminal proceedings following a deeper investigation.

Three firms under scrutiny

The operation involved the Commerce Ministry, Interior Ministry, Royal Thai Police and Provincial Police Region 8. It was led by Deputy Interior Minister Pholpheera Suwanchawee and targeted companies suspected of using Thai nationals as nominee shareholders to bypass Thai legal restrictions on foreign business ownership and landholding.

Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director-general of the DBD, said the British national registered a company in 2000 with Thai shareholders.

Officials subsequently identified what they described as significant changes: the original Thai shareholders were removed and replaced by a cross-shareholding structure involving three companies. The firms reportedly had the same individual as director.

Investigators examined shareholder lists and registers, financial statements, investment funding sources, management structures, business premises and links between shareholders and directors. The evidence gathered will be used in potential legal action.

The DBD said Thai people found to have helped or supported foreigners in operating businesses unlawfully could also face enforcement action.

What it means for foreign investors

Foreigners can lawfully invest in Thailand, including in Krabi's large tourism and property sectors, but land ownership and certain business activities remain restricted under Thai law. A company structure involving Thai shareholders must reflect genuine ownership and control, rather than acting as a front for a foreign investor.

The investigation does not mean all foreign-owned or foreign-invested businesses in Krabi are improper. However, authorities said they are focused on companies suspected of disguising foreign control in order to avoid permission requirements.

Krabi's foreign investment picture

Krabi is a major economic and tourism province with continued overseas investment, particularly in property, hotels, resorts, restaurants and service businesses, the DBD said.

As of 22 July 2026, the province had 4,661 registered legal entities with combined registered capital of Bt33.722 billion. Krabi town had 2,888 entities, followed by Koh Lanta with 616, Nuea Khlong with 307, Ao Luek with 266, Khlong Thom with 205 and other districts with 379.

The DBD recorded 696 legal entities with foreign shareholdings of between 1 and 49.99 per cent, including 280 on Koh Lanta. A further 13 entities had foreign shareholdings of 50 per cent or more, with one on Koh Lanta.

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Picture courtesy of Matichon

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26 July 2026

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unblocktheplanet Star Member

unblocktheplanet

Advanced Member
9 hours ago, trucking said:

He was ahead of the game .....until he wasn't.

Why do these mugs do things like this ?

Clearly the bloke had money to start with. Would have been a lot safer investing in something legit and relaxing instead of

trying to beat the system with dodgy loopholes.

Was not "dodgy" until very recently. His mistake was trying to sell pieces. I doubt he would have come to notice if he hadn't.

Captain Flack Star Member

Captain Flack

Global Moderator

Post breaking forum rules removed @save the frogs rule 17.News articles are collected from recognised sources and may be consolidated or rewritten with AI assistance. Respectful discussion of the article content is welcome. Disrespectful comments about the articles, the use of AI, or the news team (e.g. “clickbait,” “slow news day,” mocking grammar, or AI taunts) are not permitted. Posts breaching this rule will be removed, and posting suspension or account closure may result. If you see an error in an article, please use the report function.

CallumWK Diamond Member

CallumWK

Advanced Member

Soon some exotic cars will be auctioned all over Thailand.

ukrules Star Member

ukrules

Advanced Member
19 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

In general, it goes back to the state or the former body of ownership.

So you think it was previously owned by the state not some private land holder?


For it to revert back to someone they had to hold it previously.

This and other stories have been spoken about with a lot less 'emotion' in other places and there is talk about a certain amount of time being given to the companies in question to sell the land and if it's not done within this time period it would then be auctioned - but it's going to belong to the company regardless of what happens to the foreigners company holdings - a Chanote exists.

SAFETY FIRST Star Member

SAFETY FIRST

Advanced Member
22 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

British national and three interconnected companies in Krabi over suspected nominee shareholding arrangements linked to more than 120 rai of land worth about Bt2 billion

Anyone here?

I was thinking Georgie boy until I saw his nationality.

Georgie boy is loaded 💸 💵 💲

Captain Flack Star Member

Captain Flack

Global Moderator

Post breaking forum rules removed.

@ronnie50 rule 13. You will not publicly comment on moderation in an open forum. You will not comment on actions taken by individual moderators or on specific or general policies and issues. You will not post a negative emoticon in response to a public notice made by a moderator. You may send a private message to a moderator to discuss individual actions or you can email support (at) aseannow.com to discuss moderation policy and account suspensions. You will not block communication from moderators or Admin.

Aggression, personal attacks, derogatiry comments or any form of abuse toward moderators, Admin, or this forum in general will not be tolerated and will result in strict consequences.

There is absolutely no excuse for abusive behavior.

JerryM Gold Member

JerryM

Advanced Member
1 hour ago, ukrules said:

So you think it was previously owned by the state not some private land holder?

So you are suggesting above I'll presume a THAI private land owner and not one or more other nominee constructions.

ukrules Star Member

ukrules

Advanced Member
11 minutes ago, JerryM said:

So you are suggesting above I'll presume a THAI private land owner and not one or more other nominee constructions.

Trace it back a decade or two and one day a Thai person or some other Thai company would have owned it. What I'm saying it it wasn't owned and sold by the local state province or the central government. If it was then there are even more questions to be asked - but that's highly unlikely isn't it.

My Mrs bought a plot of land a couple of years back which hadn't changed owner since about 1970.

JerryM Gold Member

JerryM

Advanced Member
2 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Trace it back a decade or two and one day a Thai person or some other Thai company would have owned it.

OK. I was just suggesting there could have been intermediary transactions between the current owner and the one time private THAI land owner.

ukrules Star Member

ukrules

Advanced Member
7 minutes ago, JerryM said:

OK. I was just suggesting there could have been intermediary transactions between the current owner and the one time private THAI land owner.

Sure, why not. I mentioned it as someone said it will revert back to the province or the state as if it had belonged to them all along - it didn't.

JerryM Gold Member

JerryM

Advanced Member

So there may be intermediary transactions between the current owner and the one time legit THAI owner. No problem -- it's in there. Somewhere.

NX16TClL2OkOxuyTA229.jpg

Thai-Defender Senior Member

Thai-Defender

Member
(edited)
20 hours ago, flaming dragon said:

These people aren't "mugs" most are astute businessmen who are navigating a sudden sea change. They operated under the old system and the new government was forced to crack down when certain groups became antagonistic towards the local populace. My belief is that it will seriously deter foreign investment, which will be both a blessing and a curse for the locals affected by these arrangements.

Yes. You've pretty much nailed it. BBC Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head has predicted this nominee thing will ultimately fail. There is a spectacular case in Pattaya where a bar boss and not of the Irish theme bar type.has been exposed today by Andrew Drummond on his .com website. Problem. of course, is the enablers.

Edited by Thai-Defender

DonniePeverley Platinum Member

DonniePeverley

Advanced Member

Well at least you can be sure he doesn't holiday in Benidorm.

newbee2022 Star Member

newbee2022

Advanced Member
On 7/26/2026 at 4:48 AM, Georgealbert said:

British national

Again 🙀

What will happen to the land? Repossessed by govt or banks?

And what will happen to him? Banned for Life time after a decade in Thai prisons?

SiSePuede419 Ruby Member

SiSePuede419

Advanced Member

Under Thai law [a] company structure involving Thai shareholders must reflect genuine ownership and control, rather than acting as a front for a foreign investor.

Let me break it down for you...

  1. Foreigners give Thais money to buy land, buildings, businesses.

  2. Thais control the land, buildings, businesses.

  3. Shut up. 😄

thailand49 Ruby Member

thailand49

Advanced Member
23 hours ago, flaming dragon said:

These people aren't "mugs" most are astute businessmen who are navigating a sudden sea change. They operated under the old system and the new government was forced to crack down when certain groups became antagonistic towards the local populace. My belief is that it will seriously deter foreign investment, which will be both a blessing and a curse for the locals affected by these

arrangements.

Let's point at the real people and that is the Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, who the leaders invited prior to Covid, during Covid and after Covid. It is give people an inch they will take a foot and so forth.

This been brewing since they realized that the Chinese Triads had taken control of half the provinces in Thailand. Then the banking debacle scam by BB in Pattaya.

Now although it seems these projects are large it doesn't hit or begin to clean up stuff since the riches of the rich are involved in these nominee's that will never be touch, when that building fell in Bangkok that started it but the investigation raids will never reach that high.

FlorC Platinum Member

FlorC

Advanced Member

Must be prime location at 16 M THB/rai in Krabi.

JBChiangRai Diamond Member

JBChiangRai

Advanced Member
(edited)

There is a government department called the Legal Execution Department.

They mostly auction property where borrowers have defaulted on their payments.

They are likely to handle the process, I suspect some foreigners will be given six months or a year which to sell the property otherwise LED will handle it. For those that have been exceptionally naughty it will probably go straight to LED to be auctioned and proceeds may even go directly to the government.

Either way, there is going to be a lot of cheap property available soon and property prices in some of these areas are going to be significantly depressed as a result.

Edited by JBChiangRai
Spillobg

Gottfrid Star Member

Gottfrid

Advanced Member
5 hours ago, ukrules said:

So you think it was previously owned by the state not some private land holder?


For it to revert back to someone they had to hold it previously.

This and other stories have been spoken about with a lot less 'emotion' in other places and there is talk about a certain amount of time being given to the companies in question to sell the land and if it's not done within this time period it would then be auctioned - but it's going to belong to the company regardless of what happens to the foreigners company holdings - a Chanote exists.

I don´t necessarily think or believe it was owned by the state. That was an example. Of course it could have been privately owned. I also posted it would be sold or auctioned out. Exactly as you counter-post. A Chanote of a specific kind always exist on legal land.

The thing here is that it will NOT continue to belong to the company, as it is confiscated as land bought using illegal methods.

Hopefully, you have never owned or ran a company in Thailand, because that seems to be a recipe for disaster! 😂

You should just think about stop talking about things you have no clue about. Have a good day!

riverhigh Silver Member

riverhigh

Advanced Member

"Officials subsequently identified what they described as significant changes: the original Thai shareholders were removed and replaced by a cross-shareholding structure involving three companies. The firms reportedly had the same individual as director."

Red flag! Red flag! A failed attempt by a foreign national who tried to conceal his identity in the ownership of a company that was set up to buy and sell land. This is a blatant violation of Thai law. No sympathy for the foreigner who knew what he was doing was illegal and thought he could get away with on a legal loophole. Just because others may be using a similat loophoe doesn't make it legal.

patman30 Gold Member

patman30

Advanced Member

This is just the start, foreign run biz are pocket change
they will go after the land and properties

their intentions are clear, BEFORE their investigation has been completed.
"Officials are considering possible land revocation and criminal proceedings following a deeper investigation."

shackleton Platinum Member

shackleton

Advanced Member

This dates back when corruption was okay pay off people in the right positions

But things have now changed for the better a few people are going to find out at their cost it does not work anymore for some 😱

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