Bargains offered at Amlo Chinese tour company seized assets sell-off

The Phuket News

 

 

PHUKET: Bargain hunters will be quick to take advantage of a mass auction of items seized by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) in raids on the now-defunct Tranlee Tour company, which specialised in providing tours to Chinese tourists in Phuket.

 

A total of 151 assets will go under the hammer at an auction at the offices of Phuket City Municipality on Tuesday (Sept 6).

 

The assets were seized when more than 100 officers including police, military and Amlo officials raided companies operating under the Tranlee Travel Co Ltd network of businesses at Rassada and Koh Siray, on the east side of Phuket Town, on July 6. (See story here.)

 

The items up for auction, including 33 boats and 57 buses, will be open for inspection to potential bidders on Monday (Sept 5), Almo Secretary-General Chaiya Siriphankul said in a  public announcement..

 

Among the bargains to be had are brand-new tour buses at starting bids of B1.4 million, older buses at just B800,000.

 

Starting bids for boats on auction range from B12 million for the fully-fitted Sampaothong 1 cruise tour boat to B450,000 for large tour speedboats right down to just B224,000 for small runabouts.

 

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/bargains-offered-at-amlo-chinese-tour-company-seized-assets-sell-off-58961.php#y3LYpigqUsiz8LZw.97

 

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2016-09-03

 

 

 

No court case before confiscation.

Wonder what the real story is here.

1 hour ago, KarenBravo said:

No court case before confiscation.

Wonder what the real story is here.

The real story might be revealed when the successful "bidders" are announced.

Someone's gardner / maid / driver are in for a status upgrade.....only on paper.

perfect example of why you should not invest in anything in this country you are not prepared to walk away from.

...who are the real criminals here......

 

...billions taken away from hapless foreigners....

 

...jeez...

Just remember to all the foreigners engaging or thinking of doing in business in Thailand ...

... it can be taken away in seconds ! Thailand for Thais only !

3 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

No court case before confiscation.

Wonder what the real story is here.

 

Very normal in more than one part of the world including the US.

 

Example a business doesn't pay trust taxes (such as payroll withholding or sales tax) they are sent letters then a distraint warrant is issued and the business is seized and auctioned off to pay the money owed.

1 hour ago, useronthenet said:

Just remember to all the foreigners engaging or thinking of doing in business in Thailand ...

... it can be taken away in seconds ! Thailand for Thais only !

Correction, should be:

Just remember to all the foreigners engaging or thinking of doing illegal business in Thailand ...

... it can be taken away in seconds !

Does anybody have any info on what procedures were followed before the seizure? 

 

Even in the US and other countries, the "Fisc" can seize property for back taxes with only very summary procedures.  They don't have to go to court and get a court order first. 

 

So if this was about unpaid taxes, Thailand may be right in line with many other countries. 

19 minutes ago, ericjt said:

Does anybody have any info on what procedures were followed before the seizure? 

 

Even in the US and other countries, the "Fisc" can seize property for back taxes with only very summary procedures.  They don't have to go to court and get a court order first. 

 

So if this was about unpaid taxes, Thailand may be right in line with many other countries. 

Yes, besides it being an illegal company there were unpaid taxes as well.

Just now, stevenl said:

Yes, besides it being an illegal company there were unpaid taxes as well.

 

There you go.  Tnx for the info, Stevenl.

I think there's a legitimate question here as to what legal procedures, if any, were followed prior to this auction being held.

 

Yes, the Thai authorities accused these businesses of operating illegally and seized their various assets. It's true, that kind of thing can happen in other countries. Or at least, freezing allegedly illegal assets pending the resolution of legal proceedings.

 

But in this case, AFAIK, there have NOT been any legal/court proceedings subsequent to the original seizures. I haven't heard that any Thai court has found these individuals/business operators guilty of anything, at least, not yet.

 

Under those circumstances, it's kind of hard to understand how the Thai authorities can already be selling off the seized assets.

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

Correction, should be:

Just remember to all the foreigners engaging or thinking of doing illegal business in Thailand ...

... it can be taken away in seconds !

 

While I'm sure there is a differentiation, it seems to vacillate.  

 

Legitimate Thai partners owning 51% of the business today seem to become illegal Thai proxies when the business starts cutting into the profits or it sits on the real estate wish list of the entrenched.

 

Edit:  This case seems to be more egregious than most, but it's still food for thought before any foreigner chooses to invest in Thailand.  I have to wonder how much DFI is reduced for that very reason.

This started from thai tour guides picketing their offices in PT a while ago and got the authorities sniffing around, then they found 

taxable income did not match up with the ingoing and outgoing expenditures, then the directors where found to have forged 

documentation and ID's from Chiang Rai saying they were Thai which they are not. (chinese). OOPS....should have employed thai tour guides and maybe they would still be under the radar.

53 minutes ago, pearlofqatar said:

OOPS....should have employed thai tour guides and maybe they would still be under the radar.

 

But then they run the risk that their Thai employees would be the first ones to rat them out.  Especially if they come from families in the tour business.

13 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

No court case before confiscation.

Wonder what the real story is here.

 

"Wonder what the real story is here." - show of strength to Chinese business interests wanting to operate here.

10 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

perfect example of why you should not invest in anything in this country you are not prepared to walk away from.

 

I agree.

 

Just like that, your assets can be seized, and redistributed to Thai's. 

 

Now, if they leased all of these assets, all they would have possibly lost would have been 1 month's lease payment. 

Thailand has been compared to North Korea recently but this is more like Zimbabwe!

8 hours ago, stevenl said:

Correction, should be:

Just remember to all the foreigners engaging or thinking of doing illegal business in Thailand ...

... it can be taken away in seconds !

 

Mmmm, what about all of those foreigner's who's Thai Company owns the land their house sits on???? 

 

Stay tuned.

18 minutes ago, NamKangMan said:

 

Mmmm, what about all of those foreigner's who's Thai Company owns the land their house sits on???? 

 

Stay tuned.

will be interesting to see what happens with property owned in company names. hard to start selling it off without causing prices to fall. doubt it will stop them trying however.

On 03/09/2016 at 7:33 AM, KarenBravo said:

No court case before confiscation.

Wonder what the real story is here.

 

On 03/09/2016 at 8:55 PM, NamKangMan said:

 

Mmmm, what about all of those foreigner's who's Thai Company owns the land their house sits on???? 

 

Stay tuned.

as long as the assets can be accounted for, there should be no issue

Yesterday most of the bids were done by one man, paying way over the top. It really looked like somebody is buying all the Tranlee assets and will be continuing the business as it was.