DSI to crack down on illegal foreign-run businesses

Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tharit Pengdit said yesterday his office would crack down on foreigners using Thais as nominees to buy land and run businesses from which they are legally excluded, while his deputy Narat Sawettanan said 536 websites had been shut down since December 13 for allegedly having lese majeste content.

Tharit said many foreigners were using Thai nationals as nominees to run businesses prohibited for non-Thais under the Foreign Business Act 1999. The businesses include logging, newspapers and property development. He said the DSI was cracking down on foreign gangsters encroaching on forestland and running property projects as well as extorting others in Koh Samui, Pattaya City and other tourists cities, while human traffickers had brought Chinese prostitutes into Thailand. Claiming foreign gangsters aimed to launder money in Thailand-based businesses before transferring it offshore, Tharit said the DSI would be more proactive in going after them before Thailand entered the Asean Economic Community in 2015. He urged members of the public to alert the DSI to any suspicious activities.