Transcript of the above video: 

We've done some videos on this already but there is for lack of a better term a crackdown coming if you will - I wouldn't say it's necessarily a crackdown, it's a rule change - and to be clear, I think those companies that have been set up and that are operating and have been operating in compliance with the law really probably have not much to worry about. I do think at the end of the day that this initiative in going after nominees on companies is really looking for the bad actors. It's not looking for those that set their company up under the laws of compliance that they were set up under at the time they were set up, and have been operating in good faith here in Thailand since then; I don't think that is who is being targeted here. 

That said, I do have some concerns with the paradigm behind this initiative of sort of “targeting” nominees, because at the end of the day, at a certain point for an investment says, "well do you want us to invest, and do you want people doing business in your country or not?" is basically the issue. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that's pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand hunts "nominees" - a risky game that ends in prison and corporate erasure. Quoting directly: "High-risk zones: targeted enforcement areas. Quoting directly: "Enforcement is not random. It is strategically concentrated in high-risk regions including Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chonburi (Pattaya), Surat Thani (Samui), Krabi. These areas share one key characteristic: they are hubs of foreign investment and therefore, in the eyes of regulators, structural risk zones." Is that really a good paradigm to have? And by the way, do we really want regulators undertaking this level of oversight on people that want to invest in our country? I understand where there have been systems and situations in the past where foreign nationals have come in here, they have utilized basically front operations in order to engage in businesses that are highly restricted to Thais - I get that part of it - but my issue there is why not let the Immigration apparatus deal with that on a work authorization paradigm, rather than going after the structure of companies for people who want to invest money into the Kingdom. That whole paradigm, again to view foreign investment as an inherent “structural risk”, is that really conducive to investment and to a vibrant business community and a vibrant economy in Thailand? Again, I'll be the first, I've been vocal about it many times on this channel, I'll be the first to be a proponent for the Thai labour pool, protectionism of the Thai economy, I believe in that; I think those are good things. Frankly, I think places like the United States, or the UK or Europe could take a page from Thailand's book on some of this stuff. But there does get to be a certain point - I get into this in another video I am making contemporaneously with this one where I talk about this purely from a legal side of things - but this video, I'm talking about this from the economic side, at a certain point foreign investment starts to say is it really worth it, because even if we set up our structure in such a way that's in compliance with the legal system now, will we later have to worry about them changing their mind on what they think is a "structural risk" in somebody who's invested their time, energy, resources, into a business into Thailand? Again, it is cause for concern, mostly because I'm worried that, it's sort of like using a mallet to swat a fly. Again I do understand that there are real issues associated with foreign nationals coming in here and unduly influencing Thailand's economy, Thailand’s business environment etc., don't get me wrong there. But to do this in such a way where the very notion of foreign investment gets sort of inherently entangled with the notion of being a “structural risk”, that leads to a situation where we have just got a ton of bureaucratic overreach that could have a detrimental impact on the economy here in a very broad sense. 

So it's something to be concerned about. Again, I'm making other videos contemporaneously with this one and we will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.