THE DEPARTMENT of Special Investigation (DSI) today (June 24) raided the office and residence of a condo developer in Chiang Mai and gathered documents to seize assets worth 1 billion baht over fraud charges in the development of projects in this northern city and Krabi, Naewna newspaper said.
Mr. Traiyarit Temhuong, DSI’s head, said the raid on New Concept Property Co., Ltd.’s office and the residence of the managing director in Chiang Mai was mounted after investigation found that this company, which launched 12 condo projects in Chiang Mai and two in Krabi in 2012, had lured buyers to purchase units through advertising and marketing booths at various places.
The company promised the buyers who had to pay the full price on contract signing date a return of 8% per annum, a higher rate than the maximum financial institutions are legally allowed to pay, during the construction period that was to last 22 to 25 months.
However it was discovered that the construction was either not commenced or only partly so. There are a total of 2,216 purchase contracts for the 14 projects with total damage being at least 2 billion baht.
DSI considers that the developer should have known that offering higher interest rate than the maximum financial institutions are legally allowed to offer is in violation of sections 4 and 5 of the Emergency Decree on Obtaining Loans Amounting to Public Cheating and Fraud, B.E. 2527 (1984).
During the raid several brand-name bags and accessories, luxury vehicles including Porsche, Volvo and Range Rover and a large stack of the company’s documents were found. The department is also taking action to seize 104 land plots, totalling approximately 148 rai, with the total value of these assets being over 1 billion baht.
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The DSI team raiding the office of New Concept Property Co., Ltd. in Chiang Mai. Photos: Naewna
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