The Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 (1999), Section 36, prescribes that a Thai national or a juristic person, not being a foreigner under this Act, may not assist in or participate in the operation of a foreigner’s business, if it is the type of business that a foreigner is not permitted to operate. It is also forbidden to operate a business jointly with a foreigner while pretending that it is the former’s sole business. In addition, they may not act as a foreigner’s nominee in holding shares in a partnership or a limited company or any juristic person. The Thai national or juristic person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine of 10,000-1,000,000 baht or to both, and the Court shall order the cessation of the assistance or the aiding or abetting or order the cessation of the joint operation of the business or order the cessation of shareholding or partnership, as the case may be. If the order of the Court is violated, the violator shall be liable to a fine at the daily rate of 10,000-50,000 baht throughout the period of the violation.
During the period 2021-2022, the Department of Business Development, Ministry of Commerce, verified a number of Thai juristic persons that probably had Thai nationals who acted as foreigners’ nominees in holding shares in three business groups, i.e., tourism and tourism-related businesses, land sale and real estate and real estate ownership businesses, and service businesses. There were 148 businesses, divided into 140 businesses in Phuket, 4 businesses in Chiang Mai, 3 businesses in Surat Thani, and 1 business in Bangkok. These people hold shares in many companies. When the department evaluated the ability to hold shares or the investments of those shareholders, it was suspected that they were nominee shareholders.
Source : THAIPOST
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