Foreign Investigators: Crime Fiction in a Thai Setting

Thailand based crime and mystery novels have evolved into a specilaized  genre of fiction, with a loyal fan base.  Some examples of this fiction genre include Will Berthold’s City of Angels, and Christopher G. Moore’s popular novels inlcuding Paying Back Jack.  The article, Foreign Investigators: Crime Fiction in a Thai Setting. examines some of the background and evolution of this unique fiction genre.

Chaninat and Leeds  provides investigation in Thailand as part of their full service legal practice 

In addition to Thailand crime novels, real life stories of foreign investigators can also make for interesting reading. Nicole from thailawforum interviewed author and former investigator working in Thailand about some of his real life experiences in the following video:

56 Phuket Firms Suspected Of Breaching FBA

56 companies operating in Phuket are believed to be contravening the Foreign Business Act by having Thais acting as nominees so that foreigners can hold majority control.

In addition, among the 56 Phuket companies, 24 firms were only incorporated this year and are not yet properly operating, 13 conduct a business listed in Annex III of the FBA, eight refused to co-operate with the investigation, and three companies failed to respond when contacted by the authorities. It is thought most have Russian investment.

Thailand attorneys explain that the use of "nominee" shareholders is expressly forbidden by the Foreign Business Act 1999. It is a criminal often with significant penalties including fines and imprisonment. Prior to the introduction of the revised act of 1999 it was common to utilize loan-pledge agreements as a method for foreign minority shareholders to control majority Thai shareholders.  This entails the Thai shareholders borrowing funds from the foreigner and “pledging” the shares back as security. However, the Act of 1999 made this practice illegal. While enforcement of the Thai nominee prohibitions of the Foreign Business Act has been infrequent, the practice is risky particularly if a company has engaged the use of professional nominees whose name appears on multiple company registrations.

Related Documents 

Foreign Business Act 

Related Articles 

The Foreign Business Act and Other Foreign Business Restrictions

Flickr photo credit: Edwin.11