Briton Arrested in Koh Samui

[tuktukmike]

100 DSI, police officers raid Koh Samui, arrest Briton

Koh Samui, Surat Thani: -- A team of 100 officers from the Crime Suppression Division, Anti-Money Laundering Office and Department of Investigation raided this tourist destination island Tuesday morning and arrested a Briton and three Thais.

The Briton, Peter Watkinjones, 40, was accused of leading a multinational mafia gang which bribed land officials to gain access to public land on the island for sale to foreigners.

The officers, divided into small teams, raided ten spots to try to arrest seven members of the so-called Bandidos gang.

DSI spokesman Pol Col Dussadee Arayawutthi said the three Thai men were identified as Pramual Somwong, a land official, and two ordinary people - Samroeng Buanak and Prateep Muangkaew.

He said a Briton and two Danish men were still elusive.

He said the seven were suspected of using influence to pressure local businesses and people to sell business and land to them and they paid bribe to land officials to use land documents elsewhere to forge ownership of public land on the island and sold them to foreigners at steep prices.

Dussadee said the sale contracts were undervalued as the buyers paid the rest of the money to the gang abroad.

--The Nation 2006-07-18

[Guess]

100 DSI, police officers raid Koh Samui, arrest Briton

Koh Samui, Surat Thani: -- A team of 100 officers from the Crime Suppression Division, Anti-Money Laundering Office and Department of Investigation raided this tourist destination island Tuesday morning and arrested a Briton and three Thais.

The Briton, Peter Watkinjones, 40, was accused of leading a multinational mafia gang which bribed land officials to gain access to public land on the island for sale to foreigners.

The officers, divided into small teams, raided ten spots to try to arrest seven members of the so-called Bandidos gang.

DSI spokesman Pol Col Dussadee Arayawutthi said the three Thai men were identified as Pramual Somwong, a land official, and two ordinary people - Samroeng Buanak and Prateep Muangkaew.

He said a Briton and two Danish men were still elusive.

He said the seven were suspected of using influence to pressure local businesses and people to sell business and land to them and they paid bribe to land officials to use land documents elsewhere to forge ownership of public land on the island and sold them to foreigners at steep prices.

Dussadee said the sale contracts were undervalued as the buyers paid the rest of the money to the gang abroad.

--The Nation 2006-07-18

I belive this relates to the post I made regarding Thailands motivations when enforcing land transfer regulations with farang led companies.

One of the names given to me was Watkins, with Operations in Koh Samui, Ko Pan Ngang and Jomtiem. Seems a bit too much of a coincidence to me if this a complete co-incidence.

My current understanding is that land is being purchased dubiously by Thais in Thai names for nominal fees and then being developed upon and sold outside of Thailand to unsepecting purchasers. The ruse managed to remain undetected (up until recently) and to avoid taxation in either the font office host of Malaysia, Thailand or the countries where the cash finally ended up. Additionally it may be part of a much larger international money laundering operation.

If these arrests are related to the organisation that I was aware of in Jomtien then this arrest is just the tip of the iceberg.

When the dust settles and the Thais are convinced they have weeded out the whole gang I believe it will become easier for foreigners to acquire land. That was the Thai initiative before all this blew up anyway so this may have the effect of speeding things up.

[Burger]

Agree Guess, there was a report from a Bangkok Law firm a little while back that said same, see extract below:

12th June 2006 - Samui cases spark land law crackdown
Recent government action to more strictly enforce laws related to property acquisition by foreigners stems from some blatant abuses reported on Koh Samui, according to Marcus Collins, a partner with the Bangkok law firm McEvily & Collins.
Officials have already begun probes into certain practices on the southern resort island, including a criminal investigation of money laundering, he said.
Buying property is one of the easiest ways to launder money, says Mr Collins. ''Obviously they have the ability to do that and probably through Interpol they have the ability to check people who could bring a lot of money into Thailand, whether it's money obtained from criminals or criminal enterprises.''


This can only be good news for the decent foreign buyers/developers if they weed out these corrupt ones.

Burger

[lomuamart]

What happens to the ill-gotten gains?

[tuktukmike]

I think there is a passion for jumping the gun here.

From what i understand this is only the thin end of the wedge.

Remember foriegners can still buy land, but all that is being asked is that you have real Thai investors in your company who hold 51%.

Quote,

However it must be kept in mind that the only real way for a foreigner to own land is to complete the entire process 100% properly. One must have Thai partners that do invest something into the working of the company.

One must follow business plans, do feasibillity studies of the projects and the company must ratify the terms and conditions specified in the MOU. By following this path, one is sure to be completely safe from investigating eyes.

Jatuporn Cherbangkaew, Chief Lawyer of Socrates law firm.

Mike.

[Burger]

It's worth noting:

Two land offices, Phuket and now Prachuap Kiri Khan are allowing registering of land (without asking for details of shareholders) for foreign 49% companies providing their company objective is not 'property development' and it's less than 1 Rai.

I understand they have implemented this early, ie: before the official government announcement due soon.

What the law firm says is probably true at other land offices around the country though.

Burger