Nominee hunt targets Chon Buri properties worth B800m

Forced sales possible if illegal foreign ownership proven, says land official

CHON BURI - Police raided 12 properties worth a combined 800 million baht in Bang Lamung district on Wednesday morning, suspecting them of being illegally owned by foreigners.

If illegal ownership is confirmed, forced sales of the properties would take place within 180 days, said a Department of Lands official who took part in the raid.

Chon Buri police commander Pol Maj Gen Chatree Suksiri led the operation, which involved police from the Bang Lamung and Nong Prue stations, special operations officers and local land and commerce officials.

According to police sources, the raids targeted 12 suspected companies, 11 residences and 16 land plots. In addition to charging foreigners of many nationalities, police charged 85 Thais with enabling illegal ownership, including some alleged to be acting as nominees.

One of the properties raided was a mansion covering an area of 1,920 square metres on Ruamsuk 12 Road in tambon Nong Prue in Pattaya City.

Authorities found three Chinese men who had arrived in Thailand on Saturday, and about 100 computer sets that had not been completely assembled. It was not known what the computers were for.

One of the men had a bank passbook showing monthly transactions of about 200,000 baht. He told police the sum was for house rent.

The mansion and the land plot were registered to a company wholly owned by Chinese nationals, investigators said.

Wednesday’s raids were the latest in a series of operations carried out in recent months in areas popular with tourists and expats. An earlier operation in Pattaya in August targeted a hotel and a high-rise condominium building.

On Monday Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul ordered authorities nationwide to complete investigations into illegal property and business ownership by the end of this year.

Legal action could include forcing the sale of land to prevent ownership from being transferred from one nominee to another, he said.

The Department of Lands said an initial investigation had identified suspicious ownership involving 13,088 parties, including companies and individuals.

The investigation could lead to forced sales of illegally owned land covering 5,467 rai, with a combined value of 14 billion baht, it said.