NEWS

New attack on nominee loopholes

Published on 05/09/2013

» The office of the Ombudsman is seeking new legislation to prevent foreigners illegally owning land via Thai nominees. Under the proposed legislation, foreigners would face long terms of imprisonment or fines up to two million baht for trying to hide their purchase of land. Those found holding Thai papers illegally might be allowed up to a year to transfer the plots to legitimate entities. The current loopholes are said to be mainly setting up registered companies with a 51:49 Thai-foreign ownership or by marrying a Thai. There is a suspicion that many plots of land are illegally owned by Thais in mainland Thailand and on the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui. At the moment land ownership deals are not public information, leading to suspicious transactions by Thais and foreigners alike. Critics say that there is no reason for new laws. What’s needed is strict enforcement of existing legislation including the anti-money laundering rules and the notoriously lax tax laws on property transactions.