RAIDS at some locations on Koh Phangan, Surat Thani province, mounted by the Commerce Ministry led to the owner of an accounting company being found to hold shares in 66 companies, Thai Rath newspaper said this morning (Oct. 24).
Mr. Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director-general of the Department of Business Development, said he had sent his deputy, M.L. Phuthong Thongyai, to the popular holiday island to suppress illegal activities by foreigners there.
This followed an inspection of targeted groups in Surat Thani province, the second-highest risk area in the country, last July. Uncovered then were five high-risk entities that should be prioritised for investigation, four individuals and one juristic person, who were listed as shareholders in 256 companies located at Koh Phangan. Furthermore, over 100 companies had duplicate office locations with this leading to this week’s raids on four locations.
The first raid was on the office of First Consultant Universals Services (First Consultants 47 Co., Ltd.) whose unidentified owner was listed as holding shares in 66 companies. Moreover three other locations housing 89 juristic persons were all linked to this one owner with some of them not yet doing any business.
Police seized documents and computers to investigate whether Thais had been roped in by foreigners to act as their nominees, and also use the information as evidence in prosecution. Additional documents too were demanded with the accounting company’s owner and related legal entities told to give complete statements to the department for further in-depth investigations.
The second raid was on Sitaya Beachfront Villas where eight luxury villas were found to have been rented out to foreign tourists for 13,000 baht a night without a hotel operating licence. The project manager and six foreign tourists were summoned for further questioning.
Information gathered raised suspicion on the project’s land ownership, valued at over 152 million baht. Two Thai legal entities held a majority stake in the project, but the remaining 49% stake was taken up by Israelis. Subsequently, an Israeli company also took a stake in the firm with this suspected to be a tax evasion move and an attempt to conceal shareholdings, pointing to nominee ownership.
Poonpong added that the department will collaborate with relevant agencies, including the Tourist Police, the Immigration Bureau, the Revenue Department, the Land Office, and local authorities, in cracking down on foreigners using Thais as nominees as this distorts the economic structure and puts Thai entrepreneurs at a disadvantage.
CAPTIONS:
Beautiful Koh Phangan. Top photo – Elizabeth Gottwald on Unsplash, Front Page – Ivan Nedelchev on Unsplash
Insert – Department of Business Development chief Poonpong Naiyanapakorn. Photo – Thai Rath
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