The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has found more than 345 billion baht was smuggled out of Thailand through phoy kuan, or underground money transfers, in the past five years.
Amlo secretary-general Seehanart Prayoonrat said yesterday that its investigation found 14,470 illegal money transfers between Thailand and other countries from 2008 to 2012 in which 193,327 million baht was transferred into Thailand and 345,437 million baht went out of Thailand to other countries.
He said the amount of the outgoing money nearly doubled that of the incoming money.
He said phoy kuan networks receive orders for money transfers and pass them on to their clearing agents in destination countries by phone or via the internet.
The clearing agents disburse money to individuals authorised by people who ordered the money transfer. The clearing agents charge a fee for their service.
According to Mr Seehanart, the money which came in to Thailand originated mostly from the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong.
The lion's share of the outgoing money was transferred between Thailand and Hong Kong, which does not limit the amount of imported money, he said.
The illegal money transfers dodge control by government agencies including the Amlo and the Bank of Thailand as well as reputable financial institutions, providing a channel for sending dirty money abroad.
Pol Col Seehanart admitted that it was difficult to check illegal money transfers and money laundered by corrupt politicians.
"The malpractice has been around for a long time... The status and identity of those who do the transactions are concealed. Transfers can be ordered by phone and online," the Amlo secretary-general said. He said there were about 10 phoy kuan gangs in Thailand and they are connected.
They also serve businessmen who are not in money laundering rackets but are put off by the onerous regulations governing financial transactions abroad.