500 million baht returned to China seized from illegal Chinese businesses in Thailand
Thailand returned approximately 400 to 500 million baht to China that had been seized from illegal businesses operated by Chinese nationals within the country. The Chinese government was overwhelmed by the gesture.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam shared details of the illegal businesses with the press and China’s Minister of Interior Li Fangshu on a visit to China last week. Wissanu stated that he handed China the money that had been seized from Chinese scammers operating in Thailand.
Wissanu explained that the return followed a criminal case seven years ago. A Chinese man deceived 33,000 Chinese nationals before escaping arrest in Thailand. The Chinese scammer swindled 50 to 100 yuan (about 240 to 480 baht) from victims and spent the cash on real estate in Thailand.
Wissanu revealed that China sought cooperation from the Thai authorities to apprehend Chinese criminals. Subsequently, the seized assets, including condominiums and other holdings, were put up for sale to facilitate the return of the money to China.
According to Kapook, the Chinese Interior Minister believed that the victims might not come forward to claim the money, as it had been derived from illegal activities. Consequently, the decision was made to allocate the funds to a government budget instead.
During the interview with the media, Wissanu said…
“I returned the cash to China. The country welcomed me very well and assigned the Interior Minister to pick me up at the airport and invite me to a welcoming party. The minister was impressed with the cooperation from Thailand. He said China had never experienced this kind of operation from any country. So, the government decided to use the money to give scholarships to two authorities from the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) every year.”
Many Thai netizens expressed their disagreement on the matter. Many of them argued that the seized money should have been utilized for domestic purposes, such as funding infrastructure and social projects in Thailand. The netizens stated…
“Thailand is super poor now because of these illegal business operators. You seized the assets but did not pay them back to people in the country. If you do not know where to spend the money, let’s pay back the public debt! China may be confused.”
“Is it true? According to the law, it should belong to our country. Section 35 of the Criminal Law, the properties forfeited by the Court’s judgment shall be vested in the country, the court may give judgment such properties to be rendered useless or to be destroyed.”
“Are we under the control of China? Chinese nationals keep opening new businesses in Thailand. Some of them are illegal but get support from the Thai government, right?”
“Illegal Chinese businesses take Thai resources to swindle money from Thai people and other victims in the neighbouring countries, but we handed the money to them. Do we still have dignity?”
“Many Thais are scared of the control by the US. Let’s scare off China first.”
“Get ready guys! Learn Chinese! We will be one city of China soon!”
“When Thailand will disappear from the world’s map. The leaders are all stupid.”
