Condo Owner Busted For Work Permit

[mikejphuket]

The following is copied from Phuket Gazette online. I am a member of the owners' committee at the condo where I own a unit. I am also one of the signatories for the Condo bank accounts and cheques.

Any advice much appreciated.

PHUKET CITY: A Canadian man who has lived in Phuket for over a decade has been arrested for working illegally in Thailand, a charge he claims stems from a dispute over maintenance fees with the owner of a condominium complex in which he owns five units.

Phuket Immigration Police, led by Investigations Inspector Suparerk Pankosol, yesterday arrested James ('Jimmy') Nixon, 49, at his condominium at the Blue Canyon Country Club in Mai Khao.

Taken to Tah Chat Chai Police Station for questioning, Mr Nixon was held at the station from 1pm until 6:30pm.

Accompanied by his lawyer, Mr Nixon spent much of his time inside a jail cell until his lawyer posted a condominium chanote title deed as police bail.

Speaking to the Gazette from inside the jail cell, Mr Nixon explained that he started spending winters in Thailand about 20 years ago to escape the Canadian climate, and now owns five units at Blue Canyon.

He told the Gazette that he was not working in Phuket, but had merely been elected by fellow condo owners as their “juristic person” representative at an annual meeting, as required by the Thai Condominium Act.

Serving as a condo owners’ representative is an unpaid position and does not constitute work, he maintains.

There are many foreigners on the island in similar positions, and none have ever been accused of working here illegally, he pointed out.

Mr Nixon concedes that Thai labor law as it applies to foreigners is vague about what actually constitutes “work”, and he feels the law is being selectively enforced in his case at the behest of the condo management, with whom he has had a disagreement about management fees.

Phuket Immigration admit to arresting Mr Nixon, but told the Gazette they could not give more details about the case until Lt Col Suparerk returns from a seminar in Bangkok.

Today, Mr Nixon spent all morning in a holding room at Phuket Provincial Court. He was finally allowed to leave the court at about 5pm, after he was formally charged for working without a work permit and his lawyer posted bail.

“Does the local government really want to ask us to keep investing in properties and not allow us to sit on management committees? There is something funny about this,” he said.

[Mario2008]

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