Irish man claims his house, land worth Bt65 million defrauded

[samuibeachcomber]

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.

Why?...it's a very good saying and worth remembering when throwing lots of money around.

[FredNL]

In my case of one 40´ container loaded with Italian wines that disappeared the B.I.B. was very clear....

If you not come to Thailand, not have happen !!!

[aslimversgwm]

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 agree wholeheartedly Pikeybkk. The trolls and ignorant mob that tend to write most often on here really ought to be blocked.

They alienate themselves completely from normal humanity and human feelings toward others.

They really deserve to be treated with the utmost contempt.

[deecee10]

So many posts say more about the state of mind of the poster than they do about the topic under discussion.

[orosee]

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...

Trolls voices are NOT valid. Trolls make comments that are purely for their own and like minded fools entertainment. They do nothing to promote a good forum. You can put your point of view that contradicts an OP without being nasty. I don't advocate banning trolls because they just come back with another name. Trolls just want attention ..

In addition, I'd call any poster a troll who comments on an issue without at least reading the information that is provided in the initial post. Pretty much most of the first replies on this thread come from these fools.

[micmichd]

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

Guess there's some misunderstanding here.

This forum should not be for the protection of Farangs against Thais only.

Sometimes it can happen the other way around.

What the hell are you talking about "family"?

I've got no family in the West, but a Thai family in Thailand which in fact got ripped off by Farangs.

"Conspiracy" is a big word. You better only use it you have evidence that you were ripped off by intent or at least by informed consent. Quite a bit of information you have to spread before you can claim to be a victim of conspiracy. Certainly the misunderstanding of National laws (eg the question of land-ownership) is not enough.

Edited June 3, 2015 by micmichd

[longstebe]

I hope he gets as much back as possible but can't see happening.

[Anthony5]

Been following this case closely. Story keeps changing. The ex wife was brought in as a maid then Colin had relations with her and the son was born. He after decided he preferred freedom and the relationship was to come to an end. Unfortunately he had added her to his properties and she was also collecting his rent from the various properties. Needless to say she lost the plot and allegedly with a katoey friend threw the two kids down a well when the father was off somewhere for a couple days. Properties were sold without Colin knowing (forged signature- of course very illegal) and she did a runner upcountry. At some point she took the son with her which he characterized as kidnapping as she wanted money to give the son back. Finally he found her and pursued a court case that left her in jail. Whole saga is on Drummond's website in various interviews over the years.

Now the story is she was just an innocent victim of a gang of crooks. No doubt some people conspired with her but she doesn't appear to be innocent at all.

There was a thread on TVF by a member which sounds exactly as what you're telling now.

Am I right to assume that Mr Vard is or was a TVF member and posted his story here in the past?

Here is the story as it appeared on TVF in 2011, however there was also a thread started by the TVF member himself

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/465340-children-locked-in-well-as-expat-businessmen-is-robbed-of-all-his-property-in-phuket/

Edited June 3, 2015 by Anthony5

[rebelplatoon]

Yeah let's all just add some more insult to the injury. Poor bloke. Loan sharks collding with police and officials, using extortion methods and mental blackmail, these are the worst kind. Hard to cover against such collusion anyway.

Empathy, but like some previous posters said: don't look for it on TV. Jealous opinionated bunch of sad people 80% of which love the anonymous trolling and judgmental remarks.

Poor man and his family. Hope they get SOME justice.

[Mr Somtam]

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

What site was that?

[neilyboy]

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.

yes what you say is correct, but he had a Thai lawyer,if you can't trust your lawyer ,then something needs to happen, have some compassion your shut up.

[gemguy]

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 are correct of course.

However, amongst the really sad aspects of his demise, you can be assured he was forewarned my many and in many ways...indirectly or directly.

In any country when you are told by way of the laws you can not buy or own land in your name but must register that land in the name of a national from that country or residing in that country and use them as a proxy then you better seriously think about how you are going to retain ownership of that land.

I feel for the guy ....but he was definitely misguided in his thinking while believing he could simply hold on to the land and or houses until he wanted to sell and profit from them....or what ever his agenda is or was ...while surrounded by crooks and liars and thieves and pirates and mafia and corrupted government officials and underhanded police officers galore on the Island of Phuket...... well known, world wide, for being amongst the most corrupted, untrustworthy play grounds on earth.

He did not invest wisely....in this case...... not wisely at all, as he is on the long list of foreigners already cheated and yet to be cheated on land transactions.

Meantime ...others are being forewarned as we speak....but they will still go through the motions of purchasing land and or a house property in Phuket, using Thai people as proxy, while believing they are performing a honest money making transaction that they will allow them profit in the future.

For more than 20 years now......It is not recommended you buy land and or a house property in Phuket....as there is far too much chance you will be scammed and cheated...sooner or later.

Cheers

Edited June 3, 2015 by gemguy

[gamini]

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

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

In proportion to the population Farangs are worse than Thais when it comes to property scams . An English Farang and his Thai mafia partner bribed my lawyer to give them our title deeds without having paid for them. I can sight many cases of Farangs in properety scams so why just pick on Thais?

[thedude82]

only in this cess pool can official documents be changed to go against the "farang" to screw them over...dont put 1 cent into this dump.

[KarenBravo]

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

What site was that?

A certain news blog located in Phuket which I'm not allowed to mention.

[jackanapes]

this appears to be a strange case .so many people colluding to defraud this man of his assets ? but then there is a lot of money involved and having to bail his wife out of a 6oo.000 baht debt didn't help his causei do hope he gets something back but I very much doubt it this is Thailand they don't give money back.

[KarenBravo]

For more than 20 years now......It is not recommended you buy land and or a house property in Phuket....as there is far too much chance you will be scammed and cheated...sooner or later.

Cheers

Not recommended by who for 20 years?

Is that just Phuket, or does the person, or persons not recommending include the rest of Thailand?

[mike324]

Many Thais have fallen prey to these scams too. A Thai family friend who owned a large plot of land worth $5 million plus near Bangkok had his titled falsified and transferred to a new buyer. He only found out when he went to the land office to check on the title because he had a buyer interested in buying. The falsified papers had all real signatures and stamps from real officials, as the folks in the local land department was in on the scam.

He fought the case in court for 10 years before winning. Even though he won, none of the officials in on the scam were disciplined. The buyer who got duped was out of huge amount of money, not sure if the buyer ever went after the officials. Count my friend lucky that he won and did not sell the land back then as the land more than double in price as of today.

[Docno]

I have little sympathy for the greedy.

I hope you're referring to the alleged defrauders in this case, and not the Irish guy. Otherwise, you have a very strange definition of greed.

[Monkeyrobot]

He had 60 million baht to invest but his wife's loan was only 600k and she was forced to join the defrauding ? Wake up and smell the roses buddy , she is the kingpin behind the whole scam.

[FangFerang]

I love the way this current junta government never gets involved in corruption cases. Good non-move PM!

[timewilltell]

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.[/quot

You're assuming that what the spokesperson said is true. TIT

No - the 'wife' was not a wife but a housekeeper. She was committed to prison for 17 years for fraud, theft and forgery. The money lenders who conspired, perhaps plotted with others would be a better description, actually threatened the woman having lured her in, and knew precisely what they were doing. The bank involved through their local manager, known to the money lenders and a land agent used a 'paid for' ID as cover for a purchase of this 25+ million baht house for 2.5 million covered by a 10 million baht mortgage registered on the same day. The person who was used had several convictions on unpaid loans and no job. The bank lent another 3 million to this person supposedly a short time later because no repayments were made and she needed some money, the bank manager explained.

Even with the huge body of evidence and a criminal conviction he could still not get the house defrauded from the company back. In fact the money lenders sued the imprisoned fraudster for possession of the house but the court somehow came up with a judgement that Mr Vard PAY compensation of well over 300,000 baht to the money lenders. Police in Phuket have been working to stop criminal complaints being lodged against the lawyer who made the original claim designed to lose and submitted with a forged signature, a politician who successfully blocked Vard as Director of his company using a forged sognature of the still registered jailed Director - to stop Vard claiming in court under the company name, and many other people.

The case is far more complicated than even this explanation but it is certainly not a simple matter of ex-wife steals home but far more intricate corruption and fraud. If his company was defrauded of 60 million baht of equipment perhaps there would be less animosity here. The fact is property is a registered asset that can easily get stolen and the complete lack of Justice coming out of the judicial process and complicity of local police who protect their criminal mates.

If you are wondering why I have so much information, it is because I am closely studying this case and have seen the relevant documents. Not that any of this will be of any interest to the 'serves him right' brigade of losers on here.

[timewilltell]

He had 60 million baht to invest but his wife's loan was only 600k and she was forced to join the defrauding ? Wake up and smell the roses buddy , she is the kingpin behind the whole scam.

A quaint idea but totally wrong. The Kingpins are the bank manager, money lender, police officer team. You only need to follow the money and look at the evidence.

[KarenBravo]

Thankyou timewilltell. Best post of the thread.

[Old Croc]

I love the way this current junta government never gets involved in corruption cases. Good non-move PM!

Any governments job is to tackle systemic corruption from the top down,

The police and courts have the responsibility to resolve individual cases.

[KarenBravo]

I love the way this current junta government never gets involved in corruption cases. Good non-move PM!

Of course not. Wouldn't want their business contacts in Burma concerning the gemstone and timber trade looked at too closely.

[timewilltell]

For all you geniuses that don't bother to get the facts, HE HAD A LEGITIMATE 30 YEAR LEASE AND HIS SIGNATURE WAS FORGED TO SELL THE PROPERTY. This is the basis of him losing the property due to fraud and corruption.

No that is the #TySaysNo case - just google it. This man had his business defrauded, it's assets stolen and much much much more thereafter to try to stop him getting the company assets back which with the help of the police, the courts and corrupt lawyers, is so far succeeding.

[RigPig]

He's got balls.

On Ya Mate!.

Let's hope Khun Prayut gets wind of it.

Yep I am SURE it will be top of the list....... after the lottery tickets!!

[mikiea]

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.

you are the one that is failing to understand . right or wrong he can spend what he wants . where he wants . he did nothing wrong , you have already given up i see . it must be comfortable in the shallow end of the pool .

[timewilltell]

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.[/quot

You're assuming that what the spokesperson said is true. TIT

No - the 'wife' was not a wife but a housekeeper. She was committed to prison for 17 years for fraud, theft and forgery. The money lenders who conspired, perhaps plotted with others would be a better description, actually threatened the woman having lured her in, and knew precisely what they were doing. The bank involved through their local manager, known to the money lenders and a land agent used a 'paid for' ID as cover for a purchase of this 25+ million baht house for 2.5 million covered by a 10 million baht mortgage registered on the same day. The person who was used had several convictions on unpaid loans and no job. The bank lent another 3 million to this person supposedly a short time later because no repayments were made and she needed some money, the bank manager explained.

Even with the huge body of evidence and a criminal conviction he could still not get the house defrauded from the company back. In fact the money lenders sued the imprisoned fraudster for possession of the house but the court somehow came up with a judgement that Mr Vard PAY compensation of well over 300,000 baht to the money lenders. Police in Phuket have been working to stop criminal complaints being lodged against the lawyer who made the original claim designed to lose and submitted with a forged signature, a politician who successfully blocked Vard as Director of his company using a forged sognature of the still registered jailed Director - to stop Vard claiming in court under the company name, and many other people.

The case is far more complicated than even this explanation but it is certainly not a simple matter of ex-wife steals home but far more intricate corruption and fraud. If his company was defrauded of 60 million baht of equipment perhaps there would be less animosity here. The fact is property is a registered asset that can easily get stolen and the complete lack of Justice coming out of the judicial process and complicity of local police who protect their criminal mates.

If you are wondering why I have so much information, it is because I am closely studying this case and have seen the relevant documents. Not that any of this will be of any interest to the 'serves him right' brigade of losers on here.