Fifty million baht in assets seized from Chinese travel companies

[webfact]

Fifty million baht in assets seized from Chinese travel companies

 

Image: tnamcot

 

BANGKOK:-- Tourist police and trading standards officers have seized assets worth approximately 50 million baht from two travel companies in the Rama 9 area of Bangkok.

 

The seizures relate to the arrest of Somkiat Khoncharoen who was taken into custody last month after it was discovered he had taken on the identity of a dead Thai man, reported tnamcot. Somkiat is in fact a Chinese national but was found holing a Thai ID card.

 

Yesterday he was taken by investigators to open the safe at the Chin Yuan Travel Company Ltd in Rama 9. Another company called Foo An is also related to the case.

 

Documents and ten cheque books were seized in the operation as well as property that Somkiat claimed belonged to customers of the company.

 

Trading standards officers have also removed the right of the companies to operate. 

 

They were catering to some 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese tourist visitors to Thailand per month.

 

Source: tnamcot

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-08-16

[shirtless]

This is why the smart money wont come to Thailand, 

[halloween]

26 minutes ago, shirtless said:

This is why the smart money wont come to Thailand, 

If that is the sort of smart money that's not coming, Thailand will be all the better for it.  Do you really think that identity theft and falsely claiming citizenship is "smart"?

[tomacht8]

50 million baht

And there still says one, that you can not earn money with Chinese tourists.

 

[greenchair]

23 minutes ago, halloween said:

If that is the sort of smart money that's not coming, Thailand will be all the better for it.  Do you really think that identity theft and falsely claiming citizenship is "smart"?

No, but it is a shame that this is what a foreigner is forced to do to have a company in Thailand. Or share 51 percent to a Thai that in many cases, finds all sorts of ways to take it from you once it's up and running and successful. 

On the one hand the Thai are complaining about Chinese setting up tour companies. On the other, the tat are complaining there are not enough Chinese speakers to cater to the Chinese tourists and the Chinese prefer to have a guide that is fluent in their language. Who wants a tour guide that they can't speak to ?????

[BuckBee]

If thailand allowed foreigners better options on business ownership they wouldn't need dead thais ID .

Chinese like the money to flow home so to speak . Most of the tour catering companies for chinese backed by chinese-thainese will be flexing regs & rules ingeniously ...

[halloween]

4 minutes ago, greenchair said:

No, but it is a shame that this is what a foreigner is forced to do to have a company in Thailand. Or share 51 percent to a Thai that in many cases, finds all sorts of ways to take it from you once it's up and running and successful. 

On the one hand the Thai are complaining about Chinese setting up tour companies. On the other, the tat are complaining there are not enough Chinese speakers to cater to the Chinese tourists and the Chinese prefer to have a guide that is fluent in their language. Who wants a tour guide that they can't speak to ?????

I hear Kevin Rudd is looking for a job.

[bitcoinforever]

this happens a lot more then the thai's know. buying dead relatives id for Chinese nationals is so widespread. the Chinese blend and if the question their thai they say they are hill tribe been in the mountains all my life thai's can not say no way,  they are going to be overwhelmed with this

[Winniedapu]

27 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

50 million baht

And there still says one, that you can not earn money with Chinese tourists.

 

 

 

Oh you can make good money from Chinese tourists. If you're Chinese. Chinese deal with Chinese. Look at Sino-Thais, they always deal with other Sino-Thais or Chinese if they can.

 

According to the Chinese, if you aren't Chinese and don't have Chinese ancestry, you're sub-human, and that includes Thais. If you think foreigners are hard on Thais, some of the nouveau-riche Chinese and Sino-Thais set a very high bar for racism, exploitation and just plain nastiness..

 

Winnie

[Winniedapu]

13 minutes ago, greenchair said:

No, but it is a shame that this is what a foreigner is forced to do to have a company in Thailand. Or share 51 percent to a Thai that in many cases, finds all sorts of ways to take it from you once it's up and running and successful. 

On the one hand the Thai are complaining about Chinese setting up tour companies. On the other, the tat are complaining there are not enough Chinese speakers to cater to the Chinese tourists and the Chinese prefer to have a guide that is fluent in their language. Who wants a tour guide that they can't speak to ?????

 

Fully agree. Though I confess it's sometimes satisfying to watch the Thais court  the Chinese as tourists and investors, then watch the Chinese take them to the cleaners. Seen it happen a few times. Great fun.

 

Winnie

[dcnx]

1 hour ago, halloween said:

If that is the sort of smart money that's not coming, Thailand will be all the better for it.  Do you really think that identity theft and falsely claiming citizenship is "smart"?

 

What I see is a person who did what he had to do to open a business. If laws were a little more welcoming, you probably wouldn't see such things.

 

All the Thais do with their ridiculous labor and work visa laws is push what could be a legit business underground. Determined people are still going to make money.

 

You simply are not going to stop people from earning a living, and some will go that extra length to make it happen.

[MobileContent]

54 minutes ago, BuckBee said:

If thailand allowed foreigners better options on business ownership they wouldn't need dead thais ID .

Chinese like the money to flow home so to speak . Most of the tour catering companies for chinese backed by chinese-thainese will be flexing regs & rules ingeniously ...

 

Actually in terms of tour companies I disagree.

 

I have worked for the past 28 years for many tour companies that had Thai partners and many farang founders became very respectable Thai citizens over the years and the one that didn't go for a Thai id card hold PR status.

 

Ctrip brings in about 25% of all inbound business to Thailand followed by CITS with another 20%. Some global tour groups bring in another 10% to Thailand and the rest is from smaller tour companies from China but they all hold the outbound licences from the central Chinese government or the provincial authorities.

 

The companies that get shut down are the operational companies such as supplying buses, boats but the hotels in Thailand are in general prepaid.and so are the flights.

[mesterm]

1 hour ago, tomacht8 said:

50 million baht

And there still says one, that you can not earn money with Chinese tourists.

 

They can, the rest can't.

[IMA_FARANG]

It is illegal fo non-Thais to act as tour guides in Thailand, as these companies were clearly doing. foe Chunes tourists in Thailand.

It would be the same as hiring Pakistani nationals living in London to guide Pakistani toutists around london.

 

[SOTIRIOS]

...that's how it works here.....

 

...what's theirs is theirs...and what's yours is theirs....

 

...same in the loving marriages....

 

 

 

[Brer Fox]

The assets have been seized and presumably held in trust for some "lucky" Thai investor to acquire at bargain basement prices. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

[SOTIRIOS]

...all these Thai criminals...even 'big' and 'known' drug dealers.....never hear about even a thread being seized ........

[metisdead]

Off topic posts have been removed.  This is not about trade relations between China and the US.

 

A post of a profane nature was also removed:

 

8) You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities.

[gdgbb]

6 hours ago, shirtless said:

This is why the smart money wont come to Thailand, 

 

Why, because illegal company operators and foreigners impersonating dead Thai people get arrested and lose their assets?  That is not "the smart money".

 

Seems like fair treatment to me, perhaps you are in favour of illegal businesses and practices?

[gdgbb]

5 hours ago, greenchair said:

No, but it is a shame that this is what a foreigner is forced to do to have a company in Thailand. Or share 51 percent to a Thai that in many cases, finds all sorts of ways to take it from you once it's up and running and successful. 

On the one hand the Thai are complaining about Chinese setting up tour companies. On the other, the tat are complaining there are not enough Chinese speakers to cater to the Chinese tourists and the Chinese prefer to have a guide that is fluent in their language. Who wants a tour guide that they can't speak to ?????

 

"No, but it is a shame that this is what a foreigner is forced to do to have a company in Thailand."

 

What is a shame is that what you stated is patently untrue.  The vast majority of foreign businesses here are incorporated and operate legally without the owners having to take the identity of dead Thai people

[gdgbb]

5 hours ago, bitcoinforever said:

this happens a lot more then the thai's know. buying dead relatives id for Chinese nationals is so widespread. the Chinese blend and if the question their thai they say they are hill tribe been in the mountains all my life thai's can not say no way,  they are going to be overwhelmed with this

 

Nonsense.

[gdgbb]

4 hours ago, dcnx said:

 

What I see is a person who did what he had to do to open a business. If laws were a little more welcoming, you probably wouldn't see such things.

 

All the Thais do with their ridiculous labor and work visa laws is push what could be a legit business underground. Determined people are still going to make money.

 

You simply are not going to stop people from earning a living, and some will go that extra length to make it happen.

 

"What I see is a person who did what he had to do to open a business."

Nonsense, what he did was set up an illegal business using a false identity in order to circumvent the law.  No one setting up a legitimate business has to do that.

 

 

"...and some will go that extra length to make it happen."

You mean that some will go the extra mile that results in their losing everything like this one?

[gdgbb]

3 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

It is illegal fo non-Thais to act as tour guides in Thailand, as these companies were clearly doing. foe Chunes tourists in Thailand.

It would be the same as hiring Pakistani nationals living in London to guide Pakistani toutists around london.

 

 

No it wouldn't be the same, there's nothing to stop Pakistanis with work visas in London from operating tour companies.

[gdgbb]

3 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

The assets have been seized and presumably held in trust for some "lucky" Thai investor to acquire at bargain basement prices. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

 

And why not?

[gdgbb]

3 hours ago, SOTIRIOS said:

...all these Thai criminals...even 'big' and 'known' drug dealers.....never hear about even a thread being seized ........

 

You need to pay more attention to the media, it's not at all unusual to see reports of arrests of Thais criminals and the seizure of their assets.

Edited August 16, 2016 by gdgbb

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

The assets have been seized and presumably held in trust for some "lucky" Thai investor to acquire at bargain basement prices. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

 

Why am I not surprised that the OP article is entirely silent on the subject of what exactly now will happen with the 50 million baht in seized assets???

 

Nice earner for a few someones for a day's work, ehh???

 

[Brer Fox]

5 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

It is illegal fo non-Thais to act as tour guides in Thailand, as these companies were clearly doing. foe Chunes tourists in Thailand.

It would be the same as hiring Pakistani nationals living in London to guide Pakistani toutists around london.

 

Everything is illegal in Thailand now under Section 44.

And pray tell how are Thai tour guides going to speak fluent Chinese to the Chinese tourists to tell them all about what a wonderful country they are in and how they need to beware of boats and propellers and swimming and speeding buses and fun parks and ladyboys and jewellery and bag snatchers and  jet ski scammers et al.

 

 

 

 

[digibum]

2 hours ago, gdgbb said:

 

Why, because illegal company operators and foreigners impersonating dead Thai people get arrested and lose their assets?  That is not "the smart money".

 

Seems like fair treatment to me, perhaps you are in favour of illegal businesses and practices?

 

I don't think that anybody is in favor of illegal businesses and practices, in general.  However when the government enacts stupid laws designed for the purpose of protecting Thais, let's just say that not everybody sheds a tear for the Thai rule of law.

 

Anybody with any common sense can see that Thailand simply cannot supply enough Chinese speaking tour operators.  They can't supply enough English speaking ones and they've been catering to the English speaking market for 40 years.  

 

And since it's illegal for a foreigner to own a tourism related company and Thai laws require that every company be at least 51% owned by Thais, well, you sort of create the breeding ground for people to break the law.  

 

I think the applauding you hear is that some of us would love it if a bust like this doesn't wake someone in the government up and make them aware that these laws make no sense.  Maybe it won't be this bust or the next one but sooner or later some people hope (other have given up) that it'll finally dawn on the Thais that Chinese who don't speak English don't want a tour from someone who can barely speak English and speaks no Chinese.  

 

Personally, I feel he should get whatever the law says is an appropriate penalty for his crimes.  But, I still think the laws are xenophobic, protectionist, and I applaud the man for his ingenuity in getting around them.  

[Winniedapu]

11 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

Everything is illegal in Thailand now under Section 44.

And pray tell how are Thai tour guides going to speak fluent Chinese to the Chinese tourists to tell them all about what a wonderful country they are in and how they need to beware of boats and propellers and swimming and speeding buses and fun parks and ladyboys and jewellery and bag snatchers and  jet ski scammers et al.

 

 

They won't of course. But it will give some Thai pooyay a little hard-on because he'll think he's preserved the Thai domain against intruders who would take all of their wealth and status (such as it is). Same as the company and land ownership scams. What amazes me is whose glory they constantly claim they do it for, when in reality it's only to preserve their own place at the head of the table.

 

Winnie

 

 

Edited August 17, 2016 by Winniedapu