Thai housemaid’s 100 million baht fortune hits a legal snag

[Nick Carter icp]

4 minutes ago, UK Martin said:

Stories like this make me so sick of Thailand and its corrupt government... poor Tim.

 

   Eh, this is a story about the Thai Government addressing corruption .

The French Woman gained the properties by corruption, they Thai Government are reversing that corruption 

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, terryofcrete said:

Inheritance tax ...is that not clawing money from the dead. .

No, it's clawing money from the inheriting survivors.

[Nick Carter icp]

2 hours ago, renaissanc said:

There is no way that the 100 million Baht in assets will go to the state. The maid's last resort is to make an agreement with the Police that they share some of the assets with her or else she will call for an investigation about where the assets really went.

 

   Will she go to the Police and ask them to investigate where the money went ?

[hotchilli]

26 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Property that she accumulated illegally.

Allegedly, yet she managed to get the land title notes, Thais excepted the money for the sales, she was allowed to build

etc etc... then ohhh sorry it's all illegal "after the events" how convenient.

[daejung]

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The assets Tim was set to inherit included luxury villas with plots of land worth around 30 million baht, cash, savings in bank accounts, jewellery, other valuables, and even Catherine’s three beloved cats.

Will she get at last 70 millions (100-30) ?

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, hotchilli said:

6 hours ago, terryofcrete said:

Inheritance tax ...is that not clawing money from the dead. .

Absolutely

Absolutely not.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, ronster said:

o are they saying every foreigner in samui that has a home set up in a similar way to own it will basically lose their home to the state when they die and their families will get nothing ?

Yes, if they set it up the way she did with illegal nominees.  If it is set up with legal Thai partners, not designed solely to circumvent the property-owning laws, there will be no concerns.

[Nick Carter icp]

17 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Allegedly, yet she managed to get the land title notes, Thais excepted the money for the sales, she was allowed to build

etc etc... then ohhh sorry it's all illegal "after the events" how convenient.

 

   Some Thai officials on Ko Samui accepted money to bend the rules .

The was then publicised nationally and then there was an investigation by other Thais .

   Its not as if there's one big group of united Thais all doing the same thing 

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Eh, this is a story about the Thai Government addressing corruption .

The French Woman gained the properties by corruption, they Thai Government are reversing that corruption 

 

Yet they only reverse it once the lady has died.

 

Has she remained alive, there would be no complaint. 

Or, the property would have to be 'resold' into Thai hands - where would that money go then ?

Would the Authorities confiscated, or would the money which was originally the French ladies, be returned to the French lady ?...    In the worst case, minus any fines... 

 

Thus: the question is: For any Foreigners who gain ownership of property though 'nominees' what happens when they are 'found out'  - do they lose everything ? with whom does the value of the property sit ? - or do the nominees hold it ?? - nothing has changed on their part... 

 

IF the 'nominiees' were part of the property ownership as per the land department records, don't they still have part ownership ???

 

[ericbj]

Many aspects of this case are unclear.

 

I would have thought that if the two Thais are named on the legal documents as owners for 51% of the land purchased, (in accordance with the law), then they are owners for 51% of the land. (And of the houses built on it, in the absence of legally-binding agreements to the contrary)

 

Would it matter as regards their ownership, from a legal point-of-view, if the money for their shares of the purchases came from their bank accounts or from elsewhere?
If the money was gifted, then I suspect they should have declared it as income.  A failure on their part.

 

Perhaps the Thai owners of the properties received none of the profits from the rented properties?
This would suggest that they did not regard themselves as owners, but merely as nominees in a bogus transaction.
In the latter case they would have received some kind of "backhander" (maybe a generous 51% ownership of the land value?) at times of purchase.

 

"Police identified two Thai nationals, … , as shareholders in Catherine’s company. Investigators SUSPECT the two acted as nominees, enabling Catherine to register her company and hold land on the island illegally."

Surely this case must be based upon proof, not suspicion.

 

[Nick Carter icp]

12 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Yet they only reverse it once the lady has died.

 

Has she remained alive, there would be no complaint. 

Or, the property would have to be 'resold' into Thai hands - where would that money go then ?

Would the Authorities confiscated, or would the money which was originally the French ladies, be returned to the French lady ?...    In the worst case, minus any fines... 

 

Thus: the question is: For any Foreigners who gain ownership of property though 'nominees' what happens when they are 'found out'  - do they lose everything ? with whom does the value of the property sit ? - or do the nominees hold it ?? - nothing has changed on their part... 

 

IF the 'nominiees' were part of the property ownership as per the land department records, don't they still have part ownership ???

 

 

   Quite probably received all the attention because it was headline news and the authorities being forced to take action .

   Had it remained a local issue then no legal action may have been taken .