Irish man claims his house, land worth Bt65 million defrauded

[Thaivisa News]

Bangkok:- An Irish man and his daughter and son staged a sit-in protest in front of the Royal Thai Police headquarters at 12:30 pm Tuesday, claiming he had been cheated out of his house and land plots in Phuket worth Bt65 million.

The man, Colin Vard, 61, wanted to meet the national police chief, Pol Gen Somyot Pumpanmuang, to file his complaint.

The protest caused traffic congestion in front of the Royal Thai Police because police had to close one lane of the road where Vard and his children were sitting. But after a negotiation with two senior police officers for half an hour, Vard agreed to come inside the police head quarters to file the complaint.

Vard said he used to own the Phuket Property Development in Mueang Phuket, which operated since 2001 until he was cheated in a conspiracy allegedly by police, land officials, lawyers, bankers and property brokers. He alleged the collaborators falsified land ownership documents to transfer his house and seven plots of land worth Bt65 million to them.

Vard said he was later forced out of his house and land by a court order in June 2010 because of the falsified documents.

He alleged that his ex-wife Nittaya Sukhampha was forced to join the defrauding because she owed a debt of Bt600,000 to a loan shark gang.

Vard claimed his lawyer in Phuket was bought by the gang and when he hired a lawyer from Bangkok, the lawyer was also hired to lose the cases again, he alleged.

Somyot later came out to meet Vard for about half an hour and the police chief promised to look into the complaint and give him fair investigation. Somyot said some cases have apparently ruled by court.

[NeverSure]

"His" house and land plots. How's that again?

2 million US dollars? No Thai could cheat him out of that.

[cgphuket]

A (rich) fool and his money...

[steelepulse]

I remember this and see that his daughter has a facebook campaign going to illustrate this and other similar cases ongoing in Phuket. Lawyers, money lenders, land officials, police, being followed and threatened, it all stinks of serious fraud and corruption.

[Braddockrd]

It's Thailand. Nothing surprises me. Doing business in the Third World is not for those without connections.

[shirtless]

This is why you only invest what you can afford to lose they are a very crooked lot in phuket.

[KarenBravo]

This is why you only invest what you can afford to lose they are a very crooked lot in phuket.

An often used, but, ultimately meaningless statement.

[F4UCorsair]

Ho hum....here we go again.

[steven100]

cheated in a conspiracy allegedly by police, land officials, lawyers, bankers and property brokers.

wow ! they forgot to mention his ex wife Nittaya Sukhampha. Hope his local 7-11 didn't try to short change him at any time ....

[ezzra]

Sadly, I don't think he will ever see any of the money again, too long past, too many hands

in the pot, he's a foreigner not allowed to own land, so it seems that everything is stacked

against him here... he should be carful that now, he might be a target for the crocks to try

to silence him....

[technologybytes]

Foolish man... he clearly does not understand Thailand.

Edited June 3, 2015 by technologybytes

[Pikeybkk]

Tell me is there any shortage of trolls on here, a guy and his family have had everything stolen on them, they are fellow expats and from what i read, just drivel comes out of some people statements, quick and short troll comments, have you guys no intelligence or emphaty, what if it happened to you or your best mate or your family??

2 children locked in a water well and only for a neighbour found them they could have died!

Properties stolen with the full knowledge fo the family lawyer.

Trolls should be banned and their IP blocked in such circumstances. The whole meaning of an expat community is the word Community, a place of support and protection

[technologybytes]

Tell me is there any shortage of trolls on here, a guy and his family have had everything stolen on them, they are fellow expats and from what i read, just drivel comes out of some people statements, quick and short troll comments, have you guys no intelligence or emphaty, what if it happened to you or your best mate or your family??

2 children locked in a water well and only for a neighbour found them they could have died!

Properties stolen with the full knowledge fo the family lawyer.

Trolls should be banned and their IP blocked in such circumstances. The whole meaning of an expat community is the word Community, a place of support and protection

Just because someone has an opinion that you do not agree with does not make the comment a troll posting.

This man comes to Thailand, starts spending huge amounts of money without any understanding of what he is getting into an still believed he owned something.

He was destined to become a victim the moment he stepped off the plane, and there will be many more behind him.

Yes I feel sorry for him, but before splashing out huge sums of money in a foreign land he needs to read up and understand what due diligence is all about.

[JohnnyJazz]

I saw that on TV yesterday. What the police spokeman explained was that the house was in the wife name. She used it as collateral for a loan she couldn't pay back. They went to court, the wife lost and the house was repossessed. Case closed. Unfortunetly a very common story.

Edited June 3, 2015 by JohnnyJazz

[ExpatJ]

Tell me is there any shortage of trolls on here, a guy and his family have had everything stolen on them, they are fellow expats and from what i read, just drivel comes out of some people statements, quick and short troll comments, have you guys no intelligence or emphaty, what if it happened to you or your best mate or your family??

2 children locked in a water well and only for a neighbour found them they could have died!

Properties stolen with the full knowledge fo the family lawyer.

Trolls should be banned and their IP blocked in such circumstances. The whole meaning of an expat community is the word Community, a place of support and protection

I think a lot of the trolling is down to sour grapes- people with no money resentful and jealous of people who have money to lose. Simple as that.

[Johnnie99]

This is why you only invest what you can afford to lose they are a very crooked lot in phuket.

An often used, but, ultimately meaningless statement.

Ultimately accurate, I think you mean.

Those who invest, gamble or try 'get-rich-quick' schemes are usually doomed to failure.

So it is entirely accurate and meaningful to state 'only invest what you can afford to lose'.

[Jai Dee]

A post containing links to an external website has been removed from this thread.

[daboyz1]

Tell me is there any shortage of trolls on here, a guy and his family have had everything stolen on them, they are fellow expats and from what i read, just drivel comes out of some people statements, quick and short troll comments, have you guys no intelligence or emphaty, what if it happened to you or your best mate or your family??

2 children locked in a water well and only for a neighbour found them they could have died!

Properties stolen with the full knowledge fo the family lawyer.

Trolls should be banned and their IP blocked in such circumstances. The whole meaning of an expat community is the word Community, a place of support and protection

You're coming to the wrong place if you're looking for empathy. The is the angry jaded farang portal of Thailand. Always has been. Always will be. Accept it.

[houlicha]

Somyot said some cases have apparently ruled by court.

Anyone have a clue what this means?

[TechnikaIII]

I have little sympathy for the greedy.

[khunianb]

I saw that on TV yesterday. What the police spokeman explained was that the house was in the wife name. She used it as collateral for a loan she couldn't pay back. They went to court, the wife lost and the house was repossessed. Case closed. Unfortunetly a very common story.

The land was in the wife's name but the house was on a thirty year lease to her husband. They forged his signature to cancel his lease!

[KarenBravo]

This is why you only invest what you can afford to lose they are a very crooked lot in phuket.

An often used, but, ultimately meaningless statement.

Ultimately accurate, I think you mean.

Those who invest, gamble or try 'get-rich-quick' schemes are usually doomed to failure.

So it is entirely accurate and meaningful to state 'only invest what you can afford to lose'.

Please define the word "afford".

Any investor in any country does not go into an investment expecting to lose.

If there was, nobody would invest.

It's a meaningless statement and irrelevant advice.

That's my opinion as a successful investor in real estate in Thailand.

This is why it's

[StefanBBK]

I saw that on TV yesterday. What the police spokeman explained was that the house was in the wife name. She used it as collateral for a loan she couldn't pay back. They went to court, the wife lost and the house was repossessed. Case closed. Unfortunetly a very common story.

Do I understand it right, the loan was for 600 k? If the House is used as security, it should have been auctioned off, then the loan paid from the proceeds and if anything is left, it should have been given to the owners.

So a 65mil house should have had a hefty sum left after being sold to cover the Dept of 600K?

I am not familiar with the case, but something smells fishy. Could anyone explain what went on and how it was done? This might be beneficial for others, not to get trapped same way.

[dotpoom]

A (rich) fool and his money...

So...let's get this straight, if the stories are true and top agencies, your own lawyers and the mafia conspire to rob you ....your a fool if you don't win against them ??????????

Edited June 3, 2015 by dotpoom

[ronthai]

This will be one same old useless topic, with just statements like "idiot farang and own fault and so on"

The point is without knowing the facts it is 99.99% sure he got cheated by these people, no wait pure corruption robbery.

Thank you to the few nice posters here. The man ran a business and got robbed.

Yes, TIT, and we are farangs and as long as we ALL will not stick up together due to stupid jealousy or selfish people, we will never be a community.

Most farangs here s u c k and you all know it.

[longstebe]

65M??

Chump change.

[StefanBBK]

Somyot said some cases have apparently ruled by court.

Anyone have a clue what this means?

Unless appealed in time, ruled and case closed!

I am not even sure if the ruling could be appealed....

[Loptr]

Tell me is there any shortage of trolls on here, a guy and his family have had everything stolen on them, they are fellow expats and from what i read, just drivel comes out of some people statements, quick and short troll comments, have you guys no intelligence or emphaty, what if it happened to you or your best mate or your family??

2 children locked in a water well and only for a neighbour found them they could have died!

Properties stolen with the full knowledge fo the family lawyer.

Trolls should be banned and their IP blocked in such circumstances. The whole meaning of an expat community is the word Community, a place of support and protection

What you call trolls are most likely people that have been burned in Thailand, one way or the other... Their voice is just as valid as yours, whether you like it or not... Advocating banning people due to their views, however much you disagree with them, says more about you than them...

[sabaii69]

One of the richest men in the world said 'if you drive it, fly it, or f....k it , rent it". Add this to the list here.

[KarenBravo]

Just read on another site that Thailand's head of police has promised a full investigation into the Vard case.

Edited June 3, 2015 by KarenBravo