PM Orders Land Policy Board to Expedite Community Land Title Certification Within 60 Days, Identifies Legal and Accounting Professions as Loopholes for Nominee Schemes
The Prime Minister ordered the National Land Policy Committee to certify community land titles within 60 days while cracking down on nominee schemes, identifying lawyers and accountants as facilitating loopholes that will face professional
At 2:00 p.m. on May 12, 2569 at Government House, Prime Minister's spokesperson Rachada Thanadirek announced directives from the cabinet meeting regarding the government's commitment to provide farmers and citizens with agricultural land ownership for livelihood security.
Last week, a Prime Minister's Office regulation on community land titles was repealed because existing legislation already empowers the National Land Policy Committee to oversee citizens' agricultural land issues. However, the Prime Minister has ordered the National Land Policy Committee to expedite the certification of community land titles previously issued under the now-repealed regulation into a fair land distribution format under Section 10 of the National Land Policy Committee Act. This legal status certification must be completed within 60 days.
Spokesperson Rachada stated that the Prime Minister is committed to decisively suppressing nominee schemes with concrete results. Previous enforcement efforts have been implemented in phases with multi-sector coordination involving the Justice Ministry, Commerce Ministry, the Anti-Money Laundering Committee (AMLC), and the Royal Thai Police.
The government has therefore instructed relevant agencies to accelerate measures against the use of nominee schemes in illegal business operations. Following the anti-nominee policy directive, reports emerged of certain lawyers and accountants providing advice or facilitating legal circumvention. These two professions have been identified as containing individuals misusing their expertise to create loopholes for nominee business activities. The Prime Minister has assigned the Justice Minister and Commerce Minister to consult with the Bar Association and Accounting Professions Council to consider professional ethics actions against involved practitioners, while instructing the AMLC to investigate financial trails of related persons to ensure concrete anti-nominee results.
On May 13, the Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Koh Phangan in Surat Thani Province and Phuket to monitor the situation and direct anti-nominee enforcement in key tourism areas, emphasizing the government's intensive nationwide inspection to prevent illegal groups from encroaching on professions or harming citizens and Thai entrepreneurs.
