Long time Danish resident stuck in Thai immigration detention in complicated case

[webfact]

Mr Stig Wulff, a 65 years old Dane, is currently held in the detention center of the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok, He is caught in a conflicting situation between the court in Samui and the immigration bureau.

 

Stig Wulff moved in 2009 to Thailand and shortly after he became the co-owner and managing director of the P. Trower Co., Ltd. on Koh Phang-an. The business of the company was to own and manage a resort on Koh Phang-an, Suan Sawan Ocean View.

 

In 2019, Stig forged the signature of his British business partner and transferred all his shares in their jointly owned company to his Thai wife whom he had married in 2013. Stig also signed over his own shares to her.

 

The purpose of signing over all their shares to Stig’s wife was for the company to be able to obtain a loan. After the transaction, Stig’s Thai wife owned 75 percent of the company with the remaining 25 percent owned by a handful of Thai minority shareholders.

 

The company needed the loan, because the company had for years not paid taxes and VAT correctly, and the accumulated debt was 1,5 mill. THB which the Revenue Department wanted paid back in one amount. ScandAsia has not attempted to ask the auditor firm of the company how this could happen.

 

by Gregers Møller

Stig Wulff in a photo from July 2021. Photo: FaceBook.

 

Full story: ScandAsia 2023-10-18

 

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[ukrules]

So why is he in the immigration detention center?

 

What does this have to do with immigration?

[orchis]

16 minutes ago, ukrules said:

So why is he in the immigration detention center?

 

What does this have to do with immigration?

read the article as quoted in OP
https://scandasia.com/long-time-danish-resident-stuck-in-thai-immigration-detention-in-complicated-case/

[mania]

This story is almost paperback worthy

 

Kind of a classic story of foreigners doing business in Thailand

 

One falang partner & his Thai wife screwing over the other falang partner

 

Using a loan shark to borrow against partners share

 

Being on overstay

 

Getting a shady court ruling to be allowed to leave country & "earn" money to repay the falang partner

 

Then grabbed at airport on exit due to overstay

 

Yup this has all the makings of a Stephen Leather Thai Novel 😅

Edited October 17, 2023 by mania

[save the frogs]

another cautionary tale of doing business in thailand.

 

be sure to choose a business partner you've known for at least 15 minutes.

 

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, orchis said:

read the article as quoted in OP
https://scandasia.com/long-time-danish-resident-stuck-in-thai-immigration-detention-in-complicated-case/

And what a convoluted state of affairs it became. 

[Olmate]

Stiff $hit Stig! 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

So why is he in the immigration detention center?

 

What does this have to do with immigration?

“I was not aware at that time that Stig’s visa had already expired,” his lawyer Suwatchai Sawasdee, owner of the law firm Suwatchai Nititham, Nakhon Ratchasima, explains to ScandAsia.

Stig was already in the airport with a ticket ready to fly to Austria when he was apprehended by the immigration office in the airport and told to go back to Koh Samui to settle this between the court and the immigration in Koh Samui..

 

Read the full link.... interesting reading.

[Ironmike]

He broke the law should be arrested, locked up then deported at finish of sentences 

[brianthainess]

So was living at his Father-in-law's with his 5yr old daughter, while his WIFE stayed on ko-phang working in a "Restaurant",   and then SOMEONE dobbed him in for being on overstay, 

Oh I wonder who that was? and who could gain from that? 

[mogandave]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[RandolphGB]

Sounds like he's exactly where he belongs. 

[Kerryd]

Lots of red flags.

They weren't paying their taxes. He was on overstay. The Partner claims his signature was forged. The Dane claims he has evidence that he had permission to forge his partner's signature - but somehow "forgot" to give that to his lawyer until after losing his court case.

They don't say how long his overstay was. Normally if you make it to the airport and can pay the fine (and have an onward ticket) you can get away with it.

Unless he was flagged in the Immigration system already. So close to getting away with it.

But it's the Thai legal system. Even if you've been sent to prison for murder (or arranging a murder), if you are charged with something else afterwards you can apply for bail to fight those new charges.

A certain "godfather of Chon Buri" did exactly that after being found guilty of arranging the murder of a political rival. He was charged in a land fraud case and allowed out on bail - and promptly did a runner.

And stayed free until becoming seriously ill. When he "surrendered" I believe he was given one of those "VIP" suites in the same Hospital that Thaksin has been calling home since he returned.

I keep telling my friends here - do not trust ANYONE - even fellow "countrymen" - when it comes to business and money here.
Because literally everyone thinks that spending YOUR money is way more fun than spending their own.

(My buddy lost 10k to a "nice guy" that he met in a bar, who supposedly had a small problem with being on overstay but the problem would "go away" if he gave an Immigration officer 10k. And (of course) he'd pay the money back as soon as his monthly transfer came through. He even sold it by having my friend meet him at the Immigration office, but of course the guy had to make the transfer in private and tells my friend he'll see him at the bar later.
And, of course, my buddy never saw the guy again so he lost the 10k.)

And another favourite scam was for an "old timer" that spent a lot of time in a bar and was known to many of the staff would meet some starry-eyed noobie on his first trip. Maybe buy him a couple drinks. Act like he's a "boss" by telling staff to do stuff or sending a girl over to the noobie.

And ply him with tales of the easy life, owing a bar in Thailand and making money hand over fist. And once the noobie is hooked, offering to sell him half interest in the club.

And, of course, once the money is in hand the guy disappears. The noob shows up at "his" bar and finds out the guy was just a customer, not an owner.

Just like the old saying I learned on my first trip here.

"If you want to make a small fortune in Thailand, start with a large one."

(Because if you start with a large fortune, by the time you realize you are being screwed and get yourself out of the mess you're in, maybe you'll still have a small fortune remaining.)

[Cabradelmar]

Hardly interesting ... Farang and Thai combine to commit fraud, get caught 🤷

[herfiehandbag]

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

So why is he in the immigration detention center?

 

What does this have to do with immigration?

Absolutely, seems a fairly simple business of fraud and tax evasion.

 

Mind you, whilst IDC is reputably pretty grim, I should imagine it is better than being on remand - especially if you don't have the cash, and more chance of getting out of the country in the end perhaps.

Edited October 18, 2023 by herfiehandbag

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, RandolphGB said:

Sounds like he's exactly where he belongs. 

Along with his wife

[brianthainess]

7 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

Absolutely, seems a fairly simple business of fraud and tax evasion.

+Theft

[Chris Daley]

Don't drop the soap smiley.

[Modern Coding]

So much about Stig's moral.

This is precisely where the chewing-gum brand name "Stimorol" originated from...

[OJAS]

22 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

Absolutely, seems a fairly simple business of fraud and tax evasion.

 

Mind you, whilst IDC is reputably pretty grim, I should imagine it is better than being on remand - especially if you don't have the cash, and more chance of getting out of the country in the end perhaps.

Plus overstay, which is why he's in the IDC. If he was subject to litigation or court procedings at the time his latest permission to stay was due to expire, he could have applied for 90-day extensions under para 2.26 of Immigration Bureau Order 327/2557. Clearly both he and his lawyer missed a trick here, for which he is now (deservedly IMHO) suffering the consequences.

.

 

[nausea]

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!

[khunpa]

Sounds like the typical Farang who runs out of money and then starts doing stupid things, instead of just returning to his home country.

 

[RandolphGB]

7 hours ago, ukrules said:

So why is he in the immigration detention center?

 

What does this have to do with immigration?

Thais are lazy. Visa offenses are the easiest option.

 

 

 

 

[VocalNeal]

So which Thai person on Samui now owns the resort🤔

[khunpa]

10 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

So which Thai person on Samui now owns the resort🤔

The person who borrowed them money on the condition that they would lose the resort, if not paid back. What’s wrong with that?

[VocalNeal]

9 minutes ago, khunpa said:

The person who borrowed them money on the condition that they would lose the resort, if not paid back. What’s wrong with that?

Both partners may not have agreed. Forgery involved.🤔

 

But my ownership comment was meant to be taken as oblique🙄

[Taboo2]

Why is this news?  

 

Seriously, this guy's problem was due to stupidity and he should go away, spend money on lawyers and write a book or something.

 

Stupid actions have consequences.

[Andrew65]

7 hours ago, mania said:

This story is almost paperback worthy

 

Kind of a classic story of foreigners doing business in Thailand

 

One falang partner & his Thai wife screwing over the other falang partner

 

Using a loan shark to borrow against partners share

 

Being on overstay

 

Getting a shady court ruling to be allowed to leave country & "earn" money to repay the falang partner

 

Then grabbed at airport on exit due to overstay

 

Yup this has all the makings of a Stephen Leather Thai Novel 😅

From his photo he's a "Smiling Assassin". An old Scottish friend used to say that Thailand's full of them, and to be wary of them!🙂

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, Ironmike said:

He broke the law should be arrested, locked up then deported at finish of sentences 

He has been arrested and locked up.   Duh.

[PETERTHEEATER]

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

So which Thai person on Samui now owns the resort🤔

The pro bono lawyer? 😋