Over 400 Thai firms suspected of foreign nominee operations

[Cabradelmar]

Same as it ever was, and nothing will change, expect for a few sacrificial lambs to appease the hoi polloi... If you got the money honey, you can get just about another in T-land. Rich foreigners in sea side villas opening store fronts, included. 

[Cabradelmar]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Sattha Thongkham, revealed that they have proposed to revoke Fehr’s visa

 

Thai PBS reported today it was indeed revoked. 

[thesetat]

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

This Switerland guy has opened a can of worms, I'll bet half the big villas in the area have used to Thai nominee's 

Are you kidding me.. 99% of businesses in Thailand that are really owned by foreigners are on paper using Thai proxies owning 51% and the foreigner 49%. It is the biggest scam in the country spanning every major tourist city. As well as property ownership with land, condo ownership, etc... There are many Thai companies created by foreigners as well for the sole purpose of purchasing land or opening businesses that also use this method. Why now is the government playing dumb pretending they never knew this was happening? 

[thesetat]

12 minutes ago, Cabradelmar said:

 

Thai PBS reported today it was indeed revoked. 

i read his business visa was revoked but he was granted another 90 day stay so he can face the charges against him. 

[ChrisY1]

After decades....Thailand still has no modern way of detecting illegal businesses!

[DaRoadrunner]

7 hours ago, quake said:

Expat brown underwear day. 

Nah.... brown envelope day. All because some Swiss guy poked the hornets nest with a stick

[Hummin]

2 hours ago, NativeBob said:

That's very sad news. I know some foreigners who bought houses using exactly this "trick". 

15 ears ago, it was the same rumors they where going to clean up, but what really happened? All the illigal villas around in company names especially at Koh Samui, and nothing happened, just silence. Maybe different now?

[Hummin]

And many of the new villa's built in Hua Hin I looked at back a few years ago, was offered with company from the real estate company. 

 

The whole property business seemed so dodgy, so figured it would be better to bet on my gf instead, now wife. 

[bradiston]

28 minutes ago, thesetat said:

Are you kidding me.. 99% of businesses in Thailand that are really owned by foreigners are on paper using Thai proxies owning 51% and the foreigner 49%. It is the biggest scam in the country spanning every major tourist city. As well as property ownership with land, condo ownership, etc... There are many Thai companies created by foreigners as well for the sole purpose of purchasing land or opening businesses that also use this method. Why now is the government playing dumb pretending they never knew this was happening? 

They've been outed along with every land office in the country. Nice little earner with backhanders galore. Now the wheels have all come off and for foreigners, it's man the lifeboats. We're going down! Apologies for the mixed metaphor.

[ChipButty]

31 minutes ago, thesetat said:

Are you kidding me.. 99% of businesses in Thailand that are really owned by foreigners are on paper using Thai proxies owning 51% and the foreigner 49%. It is the biggest scam in the country spanning every major tourist city. As well as property ownership with land, condo ownership, etc... There are many Thai companies created by foreigners as well for the sole purpose of purchasing land or opening businesses that also use this method. Why now is the government playing dumb pretending they never knew this was happening? 

They should also look into the dodgy lawyers and developers who offer these nominee company setups, 

[NativeBob]

41 minutes ago, Hummin said:

All the illigal villas around in company names especially at Koh Samui, and nothing happened, just silence.

Yes, I remember that "samui thriller".
Are you sure it was 15 years back? I reckon around 20-some. 

[ChipButty]

39 minutes ago, Hummin said:

And many of the new villa's built in Hua Hin I looked at back a few years ago, was offered with company from the real estate company. 

 

The whole property business seemed so dodgy, so figured it would be better to bet on my gf instead, now wife. 

I did the same it's in her name, she deserves it she's looked after me for 16 years, 

[CartagenaWarlock]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

f they want to make that illegal watch the business fold and go elsewhere.

I have been hearing this mantra, especially in this forum, since I joined. It does not happen on YouTube or Facebook, where I see an explosion of videos touting 5000 baht rooms and 50 baht meals, and they would even try to convert it into the US dollar or British pound for their folks to understand it better. 

[Hummin]

17 minutes ago, NativeBob said:

Yes, I remember that "samui thriller".
Are you sure it was 15 years back? I reckon around 20-some. 

Yeah, might be 20 years ago, I guess it have been up several times maybe

[quake]

1 hour ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Nah.... brown envelope day. All because some Swiss guy poked the hornets nest with a stick

 

It's been reported,  there is now an official shortage of Wheelbarrow's in Thailand,  

Due to the many government officials buying them all up, 

in anticipation of a massive influx of brown envelopes by the expat community.

You've never had it so good. 

 

 

 

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

One such firm is the Elephant Sanctuary Park Phuket, run by Urs David Fehr, a 45 year old Swiss national

Which I read in another article provides the basis for his visa. 

[Sig]

I don't reckon that this was supposed to be a comical article... but seriously? 400 some odd firms operating under foreign nominees? That should get some good laughs. It wouldn't surprise me if there were that many and more on Beach Road, and its sois, in Pattaya.

[zhounan]

Only 400?! 

 

I guess most of them are blood brothers Chinese.

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The Director-General of the Business Development Department, Auramon Supthaweethum, announced yesterday that the inspection targeted companies suspected of acting as nominees for foreign corporations.

Where were you DG last year?

"PM orders strict checks on Thai nominees facilitating foreign ..." Feb. 16, 2023 https://www.nationthailand.com

• Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed government agencies concerned to strictly check if any Thai tourism-related firms nationwide were nominees of foreigners

[wombat]

This old chestnut...must be that time of year again.

[findlay13]

Only 400 ?

[NativeBob]

24 minutes ago, findlay13 said:

Only 400 ?

Yes, these 400 didn't pay their way out. So out of 40,000 "funny companies" only 400 were dumb enough not to "grease up"

[riclag]

6 hours ago, Hakuna Matata said:

This is not 400 firms. This number is highly underestimated.

 

There are probably 40,000 firms in Thailand operated by foreigners and using Thai nationals as nominees (mostly unscrupulous Thai lawyers, some of them are the "owners" of several hundred registered companies operated by foreigners and foreign mafia in Phuket and Pattaya).

As i have told the resident expert in our home !

If you have big money you have big problems.

Small money not so much!

 

Face it, people who have money to burn( figure of speech for the wealthy ) are more susceptible to greed.

 

imop

[nomadinuk]

I've not read all replies, so it may have already been mentioned, but all these homes owned under company name, could these properties ultimately be seized? 

[john donson]

start with ED fake visa's followed by anybody that used an agent... gooooood business...immigration like

[sloopjohn]

This is the normal business practice by foreigners who want to set up a business in Thailand.  This is the first I am hearing that it is illegal.  Or not entirely legal?  Or something they want to make illegal in the future and retroactively punish those who were never breaking any existent law?

 

I think it's just a setup to extract more under the table money from foreign owned businesses.  

[Dene16]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Of the 419 firms identified, 313 were commanded to provide additional documents for further verification.

Correction, 313 were commanded to provide very large brown envelopes so no further investigation would be forth coming

[geisha]

15 hours ago, ChipButty said:

This Switerland guy has opened a can of worms, I'll bet half the big villas in the area have used to Thai nominee's 

This is a well known fact and has been going on for many years .

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, Hummin said:

And many of the new villa's built in Hua Hin I looked at back a few years ago, was offered with company from the real estate company. 

 

The whole property business seemed so dodgy, so figured it would be better to bet on my gf instead, now wife. 

I went the other way and have a place in a shell company name, still got the house, still got the GF after many years. I guess I did well. 

[SABloke]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

However, an inquiry showed that the firm, registered as a tour guide business, is not operating under a nominee.

 

So what's the point of including it in the article then? It's just smeering the guy's name more for no reason. (No, I don't condone his behaviour or think hes' an angel)