33 Chinese-owned luxury homes seized in Bangkok

Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers have seized 33 luxury housing units, worth about 1.2 billion baht, in Bangkok’s Pattanakarn and Krung Thep Kreetha areas in a major crackdown on Chinese-run real estate businesses using Thais as shareholder nominees.

CIB Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Natthasak Chaowanasai told the media on Wednesday that the crackdown follows complaints from several Thai house-owners in housing estates in the Pattanakarn and Krung Thep Kreetha areas, wheremany of their new neighbors are Chinese nationals and have been causing a disturbance.

Upon receiving the complaints, the CIB launched an investigation and it was discovered that several of the luxury housing units occupied by Chinese nationals were bought up by a Chinese businessman, identified as ‘Hao Deng’, who set up several front companies using two Thai nationals, identified as ‘Piyanut’ and her mother, ‘Sakorn’, as his nominees.

The housing units were ultimately sold to Chinese nationals who want to settle down in Bangkok or leased to wealthy Chinese customers.

Natthasak said that the police had seized 14 passports of several nationalities, 30 sets of contracts for the purchase of the housing units, three land title deeds and 1.4 million baht in several currencies.