Commerce Ministry Exposes Nominees Using Foundations to Buy Thai Land

The Ministry of Commerce has disclosed new information uncovering nominees using foundations as fronts to accept foreign donations for buying Thai land. Mr. Kittiwat Patjimanont, Director-General of the Department of Business Development, revealed that the department, together with its nominee suppression team, held talks with Mr. Phonphiphat Suwannachawi, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Interior, to integrate inter-agency data and set guidelines for preventing and suppressing nominee businesses. This collaboration aims to elevate cooperation between state agencies, with the Ministry of Interior taking a key role in supervising and inspecting local-level operations, including administrative and land ownership data, while the Department of Business Development will oversee legal entity registration, examine shareholder and director structures, and risky business operations to screen for nominee behavior, expand investigations to all related parties, and forward information to relevant agencies for legal action.

Six key areas of cooperation were outlined: 1) Investigating nominees illegally holding land and operating hotel businesses by cross-referencing hotel license data from the Department of Provincial Administration with the department's legal entity database to flag high-risk companies. 2) Expanding inspections of industrial waste factories in Prachinburi where foreign capital may be involved, focusing on companies with 100% Thai shareholding but entirely foreign-controlled directorships, and forwarding findings to the Ministry of Industry and provincial governors. 3) Preventing misuse of citizen addresses for company registration without consent, after discovering foreigners used house numbers in Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom to register companies unknown to homeowners, including cases where named individuals had no record of entering Thailand. The department has launched an online address verification tool for the public. 4) Targeting accounting and law firms that may facilitate nominees, by auditing accountants and auditors from the department's database and referring violations to the Federation of Accounting Professions, while coordinating with the Lawyers Council to check lawyer links to company shareholdings and directorships. 5) Investigating the use of foundations and associations as channels for illicit gain, after finding foundations receiving foreign donations then using funds to buy land or assets under nominee companies or third parties. Legal amendments to tighten foundation oversight are being drafted, with the department to join future inspections of related business entities.