Farang Fugitive Arrested By Thai Immigration Police For Tax Evation

[Arkady]

Didn't know Hungary had extradition treaties with Thailand... I wonder how many countries actually have? Any numbers and names?

According to The Nation, as reported on Wiki Answers (i.e. none of this is verified), "At present, Thailand has extradition treaties with 14 countries - the US, UK, Canada, China, Belgium, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, South Korea, Bangladesh, Fiji, and Australia."

Obviously, Cambodia has dropped off of this list.

So, a good BKK (International) Lawyer's office should be able to prevent him to be extradited to Hungary; after all, he didn't commit a crime in Thailand...

Just a mere 800K Euro

It's all Thaksin's fault

LaoPo

Lack of an extradition treaty does not have to prevent extradition. As the Thai Foreign Ministry is fond of saying a propos of Thaksin this can be done on a "reciprocal basis" whatever that means. I suppose it depends on the extraditing country's legal system and whether offence is an offence in both countries. Alternatively Thailand could revoke the guy's visa, on the grounds that he is an undesirable, and deport him to Hungary.

My understanding is that Canada does not have a separate extradition treaty with Thailand but that the Canadian courts still recognise the Anglo-Siam Extradition Treaty of 1911. I believe that Saxena was extradited under this treaty. I don't know if Australian courts recognize this treaty. Thaksin was supposed to have bought property in Sydney in his early days on the run and there was speculation about whether he could be extradited from there. At any rate he hasn't been back there and, since getting the boot from the UK and Germany, he seems to have given up trying to visit Western countries where he now realizes his money doesn't talk loud enough to buy him respectablity. Dubai might also give him the cold shoulder, now their investment splurge on anything and everything using borrowed money has imploded and they have to hold out the beggar's cap. It could be time for a less arrogant attitude.

[brownlegs]

Well it makes a change from the airport police cheating tourists.especialy the black uniformed border police who are still acting in a criminal way.............

[webfact]

Post bordering on libelous deleted.

Please avoid making blanket accusations.

[rfukata]

just another publicity stunt; Thailand is a wanna be' wan't to show the world that it is pro-actively participating in a so-called

'extradition treaty nation'.

[humqdpf]

And of course...the boys in brown will see to it that his stock of cars are well looked after and safe whilst he sorts out his tax affairs

I read it that his car showroom was in Hungary so the Hungarian BiB are looking after his assets and probably giving them a run around the forests.

Anyway, as I understand tax evasion is not a crime, tax fraud is. We all evade tax by claiming various get outs.

You are mixing up what is usually known as tax avoidance and tax evasion. Tax evasion is criminal activity in almost all jurisdictions.

Tax avoidance is allowed provided it was done legally. For example, you can legally declare certain costs in many jurisdictions so as to reduce your tax bill.

Tax evasion is illegal. This is where you evade paying tax even though you are liable. Some people just do not pay the tax and hope that the authorities do not find out.

Tax fraud is where you act fraudulently so as to make it appear that you are not liable. There is a fine line between evasion without fraud and evasion that involves fraud. In jurisdictions where you are committing fraud by not including a tax liability on your tax forms, tax evasion is usually not possible without committing fraud.

But, invariably, tax evasion is a crime. However, getting your taxes slightly wrong is not generally considered evasion, especially if you are involved in the vagaries of value added tax and the VAT rules are complex. Also, a number of jurisdictions have historically not investigated tax avoidance because of corruption or lax government. But this is where those without connections (especially foreigners!) get into trouble whereas locals do not.

[Bagwan]

I was under the impression that a person can only be extradited if he is accused of something that is a crime in both countries. Thus most countries would not accede to a request from Thailand based on the LM laws. In this case I am baffled. It is a crime to not pay tax in Thailand? There was I thinking that it was the Thai way of life. Silly me.

[Thaihog]

I'm amazed at all the coverage this is getting. The Thais should be looking closer to home when it comes to avoiding tax, especially the 'Hi So' Thais....

[capdagde]

1048 users reading this topic.......

Makes you wonder how many have a personal interest?

No, we got it as headline in an e-mail from Thai Visa and we're all so damned bored that we thought we'd have a look (perhaps?).

Andy Cap

[ableguy]

who cares ?