Thailand’s Department of Business Development (DBD) has partnered with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to widen a crackdown on foreign nominee businesses, according to Chiang Rai Times. The agencies are cross-referencing corporate filings with tax records to trace the true ownership behind companies that use Thai citizens as front shareholders to get around the Foreign Business Act’s restrictions on foreign ownership. A shareholder who cannot show a legitimate source of funds for their stake is treated as a red flag that they may be a paid, passive proxy rather than a genuine investor.
A pilot project on Koh Samui and Koh Phangan screened 11,426 companies; the DBD is now expanding targeted operations to Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Bangkok, with real estate networks in these tourist hotspots facing the most scrutiny. The DBD plans in-depth investigations into 6,551 companies suspected of violating foreign-ownership rules, concentrated in sectors where foreign participation is restricted by law, including domestic land trading, agriculture and local tourism services. In Bangkok, authorities have already investigated a network behind 33 luxury homes worth more than 1.27 billion baht in the Krungthep Kreetha area, allegedly purchased through 33 proxy companies.
The legal consequences are also becoming more severe: AMLO is preparing to classify nominee-business offences as money-laundering predicate crimes, which would allow authorities to freeze and seize land, buildings and bank accounts linked to illegal arrangements, on top of potential prison terms. Thai citizens who knowingly act as nominee shareholders face prosecution alongside the foreign operators. The scrutiny is not limited to luxury property — standard condominiums and lower-priced residential units are also being reviewed, and genuine buyers caught up in project-wide reviews are reportedly experiencing some delays as a result.
References
Chiang Rai Times – Thailand Widens Crackdown on Foreign Nominee Businesses
