PayPal is cancelling personal accounts in Thailand from next year

PayPal will no longer be available to the vast majority of people in Thailand from February 2022.

PayPal recently announced that anyone in Thailand who set up a personal account before March 2021, will no longer be able to receive payments or even have a balance on their account from February 2022.

“PayPal is preparing to relaunch services in Thailand. If your account was opened prior to March 7, 2021, you will need to take some action to continue using your account in Thailand, the company says on its website.

The move essentially means that as of February next year, PayPal will no longer be available to customers with personal accounts in Thailand.

For people who rely on PayPal to receive payments from overseas, they will no longer be able to do so without a registered business account.

Online teachers, freelance workers, digital nomads or even people in Thailand who use PayPal to receive money from friends and family overseas will have to find an alternative.
In order to get a registered business account, people will need to be registered via the Thai government’s Know Your Business (KYB) scheme.

Registration for a business account requires applicants to submit their 13 digit registration number, as well as the identification documents of all company shareholders with more than 25% stake in the company. In addition, anyone who is authorised to use said business account is also required to submit their identification documents.

Furthermore, business accounts will then be charged 7% VAT on all transactions, while domestic transactions can only be made in Thai baht and must be linked to a Thai bank account.

Business customers will also no longer be able to transfer money bank accounts in the United States.

The move has come about after the Thai government overhauled regulation of the country’s fintech sector.

This means that PayPal has been forced to adhere to a new regulatory framework in order to be able to operate in Thailand.

However, speculation online says the move is to do with Thailand cracking down on money laundering.

Last year PayPal announced it was no longer accepting new registrations for accounts from people in Thailand.

Source - ASIAN NOW

 

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The Thais want to examine your bank accounts

It has been reported that immigration agents in #Pattaya are being taught how to examine foreigner’s bank accounts for what they are calling ‘financial irregularities.’

Hundreds of officers attended a training seminar in the city designed to show them how to detect what had been described as ‘money laundering.’

In theory this means discovering bank accounts concealing funds that cannot be explained and may have been accrued through illegal activities.

Although, in reality, it seems officers are attempting to put a stop to agents who arrange long-term retirement visas for foreigners by declaring funds held in a proxy account that do NOT belong to the applicant.

The training seminar was held in Bang Lamung and presented by Lt-Gen Suwat Chaengyortsuk.

Sophon Cable TV said that the seminar was an attempt to ‘increase the efficiency of officers and show them what measures are available under the current immigration law.

The initiative was described as ‘ongoing’ with technical improvements being added in the future.

Is anybody really comfortable with Thai immigration officers having free and easy access to their bank accounts, especially at a time when it is being demanded that a minimum of Bt800,000 must be held in foreign owned accounts at all times?

What could possibly go wrong – and were is this leading?

Source - BangkokJack

Thailand's 'jet-set' monk sentenced to 114 years in prison

A former Thai Buddhist monk who provoked outrage with his lavish lifestyle was sentenced on Thursday to 114 years in prison after a court found him guilty of fraud, money laundering and computer crimes.

Wirapol Sukphol, who was seen in a YouTube video in 2013 holding wads of cash on a private jet, returned to Thailand in July 2017 after being extradited from the United States where he had fled.

Wirapol, formerly known by his monastic name Luang Pu Nenkham, was expelled from the monkhood in 2013 after the video surfaced. He was accused of having sexual intercourse - a grave offence for monks - with an underage girl, among other charges.

He later fled to the United States.

A criminal court in Bangkok sentenced Wirapol to 114 years in prison though he will only serve 20 years because Thai law stipulates that is the maximum for someone found guilty of multiple counts of the same offence.

"He committed fraud by claiming to have special power to lure in people and he also bought many luxury cars which is considered a money-laundering offence," an official at the Department of Special Litigation told Reuters. 

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The official declined to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"The court found him guilty of multiple offences which resulted in a 114-year jail term when combined, which means he will actually serve 20 years in jail," he said.

Neither Wirapol nor his lawyer were available for comment.

Wirapol faces separate charges of child molestation and child abduction. A verdict in that case is expected in October.

Wirapol's high-profile case highlighted a series of sex and money scandals that have rockedThailand's Buddhist clergy in recent years, resulting in calls for reforms of religious institutions.

The military government that came to power after a 2014 coup has stepped up efforts to clean up Buddhism by arresting monks involved in corruption scandals and through the introduction of a bill that reduces the influence of Buddhism's Sangha Supreme Council - the governing body of Buddhist monk

 

Source - TheJakartaPost

#Thailand - ‘Clear evidence’ against ‘Patt’ as second summons issued.

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THE NARCOTICS Suppression Bureau (NSB) has issued a second summons for actress Napapa “Patt” Tantrakul to hear charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The actress must turn herself in by Monday or investigators will seek an arrest warrant, a source at the NSB said on Thursday.

Investigators had evidence that the actress possessed money that her husband, motorbike racing star Akarakit “Benz Racing” Worarojcharoendet, received from a network led by alleged Lao drug kingpin Xaysana Keopimpa, the source said.

Akarakit allegedly received money from Natthapol Nakkham, a suspect connected to Xaysana’s alleged network who has already been arrested, and transferred about Bt1.9 million to Napapa.

Although most of the money was sent to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), the alleged crime had already been committed, prompting investigators to apply for an arrest warrant on Tuesday, the source said. However, a criminal court judge ruled that Napapa had a permanent address and was not a flight risk, so a summons for her to hear the charges was appropriate. The first summons called for her to surrender herself yesterday but she failed to do so, the source said, so investigators secured a second summons that would require her to show up by Monday or an arrest warrant would be issued.

Source - TheNation

Thailand - Monastic council likely to make decision on defrocking Phra Dhammachayo today

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Monastic council likely to make decision on defrocking Phra Dhammachayo today

THE SANGHA Supreme Council (SSC) is expected to issue a resolution today regarding the controversial monk Phra Dhammachayo.
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The honorary abbot of Dhammakaya Temple is facing charges of money laundering and accepting stolen items. 

Although he has already been stripped of his high monastic rank, he has not been defrocked.
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 The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) yesterday submitted a complaint concerning Phra Dhammachayo to the National Buddhism Office (NBO), urging it to take action against the embattled monk. 

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