Probe finds 5 suspected local-nominee business services for foreigners

[thairookie]

Round up all the Chinese travel agencies and property agents.  They will find more than just 5 companies.

[BigStar]

4 minutes ago, thairookie said:

Round up all the Chinese travel agencies and property agents.  They will find more than just 5 companies.

Why not give us a list, and cite your evidence, and we'll forward it on.

[blackcab]

5 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

We just had to submit ownership documents for one of my companies (non-BOI) to the DSI and I had to attend an interview. We are completely legal. 

 

During the interview they asked at length about foreign ownership and whether our Thai shareholders were proxies. They are not as they are active members of the board and two of them work for the company. 

 

Can I ask what sector the company operates in please?

[Mr Meeseeks]

Just now, blackcab said:

 

Can I ask what sector the company operates in please?

Sure, it is oil and gas under the Petroleum Act.

[Bluedan]

1 hour ago, jvs said:

That is the key word here and before certain people are going to express their joy over this(some did already)i a m going to say it will only be the big ones they are after.

Joe blow with his 2.5 million piece of property will be fine!

yes probably correct. even with the big ones I assume they are targeting particular types of companies...perhaps those who have been reluctant to pay certain extras

[whitfield]

Most foreign owned companies in the tourist areas are just a way of getting round the absurd property laws.

[ChipButty]

1 hour ago, OnTheRun said:

Last week it was invest a million dollars and we'll give you a visa. This week it's we're going to hunt you down. The usual double talk madness.

And a work permit

[Andrew65]

21 minutes ago, BigStar said:

Why not give us a list, and cite your evidence, and we'll forward it on.

Lots of Thais are at least partly ethnic-Chinese anyway, including the leaders.

[polpott]

38 minutes ago, BigStar said:

as you'd know if you ever stepped away from Soi Buakhao.

Very rarely visit Soi Buakhao or even Central Pattaya, so unlikely to bump into you fortunately.

[JeffersLos]

Why do I suspect all 5 are Westerners. 

 

As opposed to Chinese. 

[ChipButty]

14 minutes ago, Bluedan said:

yes probably correct. even with the big ones I assume they are targeting particular types of companies...perhaps those who have been reluctant to pay certain extras

Virtually every farang I know who owns property here in Phuket took that route of opening a company to buy land and have a house built and using Thai nominee's if the powers that be investigated that area alone, the property market would come crashing down, if it isn't bad enough now.

Many Thai's would also suffer 

[Bluedan]

Just now, ChipButty said:

Virtually every farang I know who owns property here in Phuket took that route of opening a company to buy land and have a house built and using Thai nominee's if the powers that be investigated that area alone, the property market would come crashing down, if it isn't bad enough now.

Many Thai's would also suffer 

thats correct ...I was a property lawyer here before and that setup was just standard. But using nominees to  buy land is even more in contravention of Thai law than the nominee situation for running a business. Not only is it illegal to use nominees to run a Thai company for business purposes, it is also illegal for aliens (yes thats what we are) to own land ...whatever the scheme whether by way of company with nominees or possibly also buying in a Thai nationals name or 30 plus plus leases all of which are designed to circumvent the spirit of the law and therefore a court could make any such scheme null and void.  

[khunjeff]

The probe also found four suspected prostitutes on Walking Street, three suspected drug users in Thonburi, and two suspected sex-toy sellers near Nana.

[SomchaiCNX]

34 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

My info is 100% correct mate.

 

Police are completely clueless when it comes to the actual laws.

 

If you work for that company it entitles you to drive a company vehicle, end of story. 

Probably to a certain limit, what if you have foreign passengers in that vehicle?

Depends on the vehicle, pick-up with possibility to carry passengers or goods, van, fortuner etc. A car from the company for personal use, yes no problem. I employ Thai drivers but sometimes you have situation that none of them is available. So no advertising on my cars (pick-up) to avoid problems, better safe than sorry.

 

Yes, luckily the police are mostly clueless on labor laws (and some traffic laws). But unfortunately my staff are Thai and teached to obye, they will not argue and pay.

 

Remember many years ago they busted the lawyers of an Australian company that was doing an audit on a Thai company (the one the Australian accountant was killed) because they had meeting in a hotel in BKK. That hotel was not stated on the WP as the place of work. They got all arrested and fined on the spot. No big deal but they did it anyway to show who is in charge in this country.

 

They will always have a reason if they want to catch you.

[Andrew65]

18 minutes ago, Bluedan said:

thats correct ...I was a property lawyer here before and that setup was just standard. But using nominees to  buy land is even more in contravention of Thai law than the nominee situation for running a business. Not only is it illegal to use nominees to run a Thai company for business purposes, it is also illegal for aliens (yes thats what we are) to own land ...whatever the scheme whether by way of company with nominees or possibly also buying in a Thai nationals name or 30 plus plus leases all of which are designed to circumvent the spirit of the law and therefore a court could make any such scheme null and void.  

...and your wife can't be a nominee either!?????

[SomchaiCNX]

Well it is simple.

1. Let's make laws that makes it impossible for foreigners to do anything legally.

2. Then complain that foreigners are doing illegal things.

3. Go after those that found the loopholes.

[Sean60]

I wonder what is the punishment for being incompetence?

[Traubert]

41 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Lots of Thais are at least partly ethnic-Chinese anyway, including the leaders.

So either  Chinese or Thai? They cant be both?

[Misterwhisper]

Meanwhile, scores of Thai investors in my home country are free to buy or establish any business they wish - and they can even own the land that it occupies.

 

I think we only will need to start being concerned once they bring in the backhoes to scoop out the earth down to the bedrock, fill it into sacks and ship it back to Thailand. Which, frankly, is not going to happen.

[Andrew65]

1 minute ago, Traubert said:

So either  Chinese or Thai? They cant be both?

Some are fully, not mentioning any names.

 

After saying that, us Anglos went all over the world colonising, why shouldn't the Chinese?!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, ChipButty said:

It's like opening a can of worms in Phuket

 

Don't worry!  The can wasn't even opened in Phuket... Perhaps the authorities there weren't looking very hard...

 

Quote

Of the five suspected cases, two are in the tourism sector and three in property businesses. Four are in Chonburi and one is in Prachuap Khiri Khan.

 

Quote

Director-general Thosapone Dansuputra said the probe covered tourism, property and hotel businesses in Thailand's key tourism provinces of Phuket, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Surat Thani, Petchaburi, Prachuab Kirikan, Bangkok and Chonburi.

 

That their supposed probe covered all the areas in the quoted section above, and only found FIVE, perhaps tells us all just how hard they were looking, especially when it came to local Chinese "entrepreneurs".

 

[ThailandRyan]

Just now, Misterwhisper said:

Meanwhile, scores of Thai investors in my home country are free to buy or establish any business they wish - and they can even own the land that it occupies.

 

I think we only will need to start being concerned once they bring in the backhoes to scoop out the earth down to the bedrock, fill it into sacks and ship it back to Thailand. Which, frankly, is not going to happen.

Buddy from the US, a Thai National with a business visa, just sold his house in El Dorado Hills, Ca. For 1.5 million USD, and sold his Thai restaurants. Moved back here last month and repatriated all the cash as it was allowed.  He lived in the US for 20 years.  Sent money back here monthly to care for his Mother. He owns a restaurant here in Bangkok on the River and a nice Mansion in Minburi. He is 60 and will be able to live here very nicely.  If he had not gone to the US when he did he would still be eking out a living as he was before he was able to get to the US on a work visa.  He worked in a Thai restaurant until he opened his own at the height of the boom for that type of food.  

 

In retrospect as a foreigner here you can not do the same unless you bend over and play by the rules here, and then you worry that some Thai will steal your business model and customers and out of business you will go.

[GeilGeilertzen]

Sweet

[natway09]

They found 5 or 5,000.

They cannot be looking too hard

[GeilGeilertzen]

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Nationalities and names of the supposed companies would be nice.  Names of the new Hotels being built or that have been purchased, which Tour Package operations, which Zero Dollar Tour Bus companies?  The news report leaves so many unanswered questions that could have been answered instead of just saying 5 Juristic entities.  If they are Juristic entities, who are the Thai's that set these companies in motion, how much was the bribe paid, are the Thai individuals connected, and better yet will there be more reporting on this or will it just fade away due to connections and money paid to make it go away.

Sounds like you are in the risk zone..

[Mr Meeseeks]

42 minutes ago, SomchaiCNX said:

Probably to a certain limit, what if you have foreign passengers in that vehicle?

Depends on the vehicle, pick-up with possibility to carry passengers or goods, van, fortuner etc. A car from the company for personal use, yes no problem. I employ Thai drivers but sometimes you have situation that none of them is available. So no advertising on my cars (pick-up) to avoid problems, better safe than sorry.

 

Yes, luckily the police are mostly clueless on labor laws (and some traffic laws). But unfortunately my staff are Thai and teached to obye, they will not argue and pay.

 

Remember many years ago they busted the lawyers of an Australian company that was doing an audit on a Thai company (the one the Australian accountant was killed) because they had meeting in a hotel in BKK. That hotel was not stated on the WP as the place of work. They got all arrested and fined on the spot. No big deal but they did it anyway to show who is in charge in this country.

 

They will always have a reason if they want to catch you.

I have the company named but I don't have an address or a 'place of work' defined on my work permit as I have multiple offices and facilities that I must regularly visit. I attend conferences and meetings on behalf of my company all the time and have never given it a second thought. 

 

I think you are thinking too much about the vehicle situation too mate, I can see issues developing if you are driving about in a Toyota Commuter van with a bunch of tourists in the back and the local transport mafia have grassed you up but other than that I am sure you would be fine.  

[Misterwhisper]

20 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Buddy from the US, a Thai National with a business visa, just sold his house in El Dorado Hills, Ca. For 1.5 million USD, and sold his Thai restaurants. Moved back here last month and repatriated all the cash as it was allowed.  He lived in the US for 20 years.  Sent money back here monthly to care for his Mother. He owns a restaurant here in Bangkok on the River and a nice Mansion in Minburi. He is 60 and will be able to live here very nicely.  If he had not gone to the US when he did he would still be eking out a living as he was before he was able to get to the US on a work visa.  He worked in a Thai restaurant until he opened his own at the height of the boom for that type of food.  

 

In retrospect as a foreigner here you can not do the same unless you bend over and play by the rules here, and then you worry that some Thai will steal your business model and customers and out of business you will go.

And if the U.S. government had told him that he could not have his own restaurant business, that it were a type of business restricted to "real Americans" only, and that he would be prosecuted if he deployed local "proxies"... he would've cried "RACISM" big time and how unfair it all is! 

[Mike k]

Govts <deleted> because they ain't getting money 

[Mr Meeseeks]

 

20 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Buddy from the US, a Thai National with a business visa, just sold his house in El Dorado Hills, Ca. For 1.5 million USD, and sold his Thai restaurants. Moved back here last month and repatriated all the cash as it was allowed.  He lived in the US for 20 years.  Sent money back here monthly to care for his Mother. He owns a restaurant here in Bangkok on the River and a nice Mansion in Minburi. He is 60 and will be able to live here very nicely.  If he had not gone to the US when he did he would still be eking out a living as he was before he was able to get to the US on a work visa.  He worked in a Thai restaurant until he opened his own at the height of the boom for that type of food.  

 

In retrospect as a foreigner here you can not do the same unless you bend over and play by the rules here, and then you worry that some Thai will steal your business model and customers and out of business you will go.

Foreigners have to do business in areas where Thais are not able in Thailand, that is one of the keys to success. Look at the Chinese, they are selling them subs and high speed trains, both of which are far beyond the expertise of local companies. There will be an influx of skilled foreign (in this case Chinese) labour to supervise the Thais, just as there is on every mega project in Thailand. 

 

Opening bars, restaurants and laundry services are low hanging fruit and just asking for local competitors to destroy you.

 

You have to think what is beyond the ability of the local Somchai. 

 

Granted, those businesses and opportunities are continually diminishing, as Thailand continues to develop, but if one is so motivated they are still available. 

[Mr Meeseeks]

5 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

And if the U.S. government had told him that he could not have his own restaurant business, that it were a type of business restricted to "real Americans" only, and that he would be prosecuted if he deployed local "proxies"... he would've cried "RACISM" big time and how unfair it all is! 

Which is exactly why they will continue to laugh at our stupidity and weakness as they syphon the wealth and skills from our economies. 

 

We only have ourselves to blame. 

 

Thais are fiercely proud and nationalistic, traits we used to have in abundance but are now sadly in short supply.