Transcript of the above video: 

At the title of this video suggests, we are discussing this "Operation Nominee Sweep" in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor. So, for those who are unaware, first of all Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor makes up three provinces. This was created during the Prayut Government. It was on the premise that this would become a sort of entrepôt of both rail, air and sea intersections for trade as well as in and of itself become a platform for new business development in the Thailand area, sort of in the Gulf region down here in the Gulf of Thailand; so that's kind of the history and the background there. 

Before I jump into the article we are going to cite, some folks have talked to me over past few weeks and things and they have said, you know we really appreciate the fact you have a restaurant because we don't always have to avail ourselves of legal services. So for those who don't necessarily need legal services but you may want to come and shoot the breeze with me, or just show your appreciation for the channel or whatever, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. It's called Pancake Palace, as the name implies, breakfast anytime including but not limited to pancakes. It's also American Diner style food, although we do have an English breakfast on the menu. It's not only breakfast as well. We've got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, Polish sausages, chilli dogs, chilli bowls, buffalo wings, chicken wings; we've got tacos, we've got grilled cheese sandwiches, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. If you're interested, the link is in the description below, we would love to see you, come on by Pancake Palace, if you're here in downtown Bangkok and you feel like some good old down home American food. 

That said, jumping in here from Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: When high-stakes deals in EEC are shaken by "sworn declarations". Quoting directly: "The sound of sirens and the presence of task force officers from the Central Investigation Bureau in collaboration with the Department of Business Development sweeping through Bowin, Nikhom Phatthana, and Rayong recently is not a routine check. This is "Operation Nominee Sweep" a targeted strike against transnational capital using Thai fronts to acquire land and real estate in the EEC worth billions of baht." I'll come back to that real quick. Quoting further: "However, the most chilling discovery from these recent raids in Pattaya and Rayong goes beyond simple "front" structures. It points to a deep-seated corruption at the very source of legal counsel." I urge those who are watching this video, check out that article in detail. We actually are making other videos contemporaneously with this one examining this stuff in further detail as well. Tip of the hat to the writer of that article; there's a lot of interesting information in there. It's exhaustive. It also shows, and I think it's demonstrative of just how serious this is. This is a major paradigm shift in terms of Thai Law enforcement here regarding business structures; that's something to very much keep in mind. 

But again, going back to this: “Thai fronts to acquire land and real estate”. That is at the forefront of this, and I've talked about this for years, and people kind of disregarded me but I always said, look these Thai Corporate structures that are purely used as a pretext or maybe a better word is pretense, for owning land for a foreigner, that's always going to be problematic in light of Thai Law because Thai law is very clear; foreign nationals are not allowed to own land without express consent by the Interior Minister. As I've discussed in prior videos, it is in theory possible for a foreigner to buy land so long as it's signed off by the Minister of Interior. That said, as a practical matter, I think it's only been done a little more than a half a dozen times since it was even possible to do that. So as a practical matter no, foreign nationals cannot own land. But these corporate structures that have been set up purely to own land, yeah, they're subject to intense scrutiny now. And it's not just scrutiny from a regulatory sense; law enforcement is involved. Central Investigation Bureau - that's like the Bureau of Detectives here in Thailand. As that article goes on to note, the Department of Special Investigations is involved, DSI. That's like the FBI, if you're wanting to make an analogy to sort of the US system. I mean it's like Scotland Yard in the UK, okay? This is not insignificant. This is National Police level inquiries, investigations, and it seems there are even arrests happening and there are even seizures occurring of assets. 

So, the thing to take away from this video and understand is, there may be a limited subset of circumstances where it's possible to own property through a Thai Corporation, and if there's legitimate business being done on the property and if it's structured a certain way, yeah - again I have talked about this in other videos - that may be possible. In the vast majority of cases though, I don't think it's oftentimes advisable especially if you are utilizing a corporate structure to act as a pretense for a foreigner to own land here in the Kingdom of Thailand.