Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECSD) officers, with officials from the Business Development Department, raided three private companies in Chon Buri and Rayong provinces yesterday, because they are suspected of using Thais as nominee shareholders in their real estate businesses, in violation of the Foreign Business Act.
Eleven Thai and Chinese nationals have been taken into police custody, after it was discovered that the Chinese investors had used Thai nationals as nominees in the formation of real estate firms, to buy land for the development of condominium projects.
Confiscated during the raid included Thai and Chinese bank books and land title deeds.
Pol Maj-Gen Tatpoom Charupat, commander of the ECSD, said that in one real estate project, on 3.84 hectares in Rayong, ten eight-storey condominium buildings were planned, containing a total of 1,821 rooms, priced at about 1.5 million baht per unit. The project is estimated to cost about two billion baht.
Two buildings are currently under construction, he said, adding that the three Chinese-run firms also own several other plots of land in Chon Buri and Rayong, which are part of Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
