Transcript of the above video: 

It has been in the news a lot lately, I have talked about it a lot on this channel over the past few months, Thai Authorities - especially through the Department of Business Development under the Ministry of Commerce - are heavily scrutinizing Thai corporate structures.

Now I have my concerns about too much zealousness in this regard. If they're going after operational companies that are genuinely set up to be in compliance with Thai Law, and that could mean having a 49/51 setup so as to be in compliance with the Foreign Business Act. That being said, I think it's important to know that there's a big difference between just operating a company in tandem with a Thai to utilizing a Thai to act as a front to own land through a company and thereby contravene Thai law restricting land ownership to Thai nationals. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Chang Rai Times, that is chiangraitimes.com, the article is titled: Thailand targets Nominee Property Deals, Foreign Buyers Face Rising Legal Risk in 2026. Quoting directly: "Thailand has launched a broad enforcement push against the use of Thai "nominees" to get around strict rules on foreign land ownership. The move has stirred concern among expats and property investors across the country. With artificial intelligence now reviewing thousands of company files, officials have flagged more than 46,000 suspicious entities and many more may face review. Several agencies are leading the campaign including the Department of Business Development (DBD), the Land Department and the Revenue Department. Together, they are moving away from years of light oversight and toward much tougher checks." Quoting further: "As a result, foreigners who bought homes or villas through companies with nominee shareholders may now face company closure, asset seizure, financial penalties, and criminal cases."

So, again they're utilizing this technology to be able to collate and cross-reference all types of things in the pre-existing Thai legal system, which in analog, created an opportunity if you will for folks to basically be able to operate in a colour of law way thereby allowing land ownership through a corporate entity, is basically the thing to take away from this. And in the past, they could get away with it because people couldn't ascertain what the real situation was, what was the reality of the situation. Now, with these AI tools and things, they are able to do that and it looks like they are increasingly serious about the idea of going after these corporate structures with an eye toward seizing them and taking back the land. And for those who would say, "well would I get compensation?" No, possibly not, if it's determined it was all done as a smoke screen to contravene Thai Law, it could all be seized and there could be fines and there could be criminal penalties. 

What's the takeaway from this? If you have one of these structures, it's time to seriously be looking for legal advice - advice and insight - in order to figure out how to either restructure it or divest oneself before one loses one's investment by being in contravention with Thai Law.