There have been two high-profile economic or financial crime cases in the press of late -- one implicating at least three entertainment celebrities and the other involving a well-known medical doctor.
In The iCon Group case, more than 8,100 investors filed complaints against the direct marketing company with damages estimated at 2.4 billion baht. Eighteen executives have been held in custody on charges of defrauding the public and money laundering, among others.
The company registered to engage in direct marketing. However, its business model resembles a Ponzi scheme, focusing on recruiting new investors instead of selling its products. Like any Ponzi scheme, The iCon Group performed impressively following its establishment in 2018. In 2021-22, it recorded 813 million baht and 188 million baht in profits, respectively.
However, profits nose-dived to 19.7 million baht in 2023 when new membership numbers declined, and the worms started to crawl out of what resembled a Pandora's box.
In the other economic crime case, Dr Boon Vanasin, founder and former chairman of Thonburi Healthcare Group, was accused of defrauding more than 200 investors of about 7.5 billion baht investment in five non-existing healthcare projects in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
The police have filed charges of public fraud, money laundering, and violations of the Cheque Act against him, his ex-wife and daughter, and six other associates. Thai Interpol has sought an Interpol Red Notice to arrest Dr Boon, who reportedly fled to China.
In both high-profile economic crime cases, police have applied at least two sets of laws against the suspects, plus the Cheque Act in the case of Dr Boon and his associates, because there is no economic crime act in Thailand to deal specifically with a wide range of economic crimes like in some other countries.
Such an act will cover various economic crimes, such as investment fraud, mass marketing and insurance fraud, procurement rigging, stock and market manipulation, pyramid or Ponzi schemes, phone fraud call centres, and trading in digital money to evade taxation.
In a digital age, an economic crime act will help authorities deal more effectively and speedily with fraudsters and protect the general public from scam artists in many forms.
The current laws the authorities apply in dealing with economic crime are flawed. In a fraud case, the statute of limitations is three months if the victims are aware of the fraud and do not report the fraudulent act to the police. Penalties are also too lenient.
The statute of limitations for a money laundering case is 10 years, which is too short and should be extended to 15 years.
Economic crime activities have become so sophisticated and complex that it has become harder and more time-consuming for the authorities to gather sufficient evidence to convict perpetrators.
Economic crime causes enormous financial loss each year. More than four decades after the infamous "Mae Chamoy" Ponzi scheme and countless public frauds that followed, Thailand still does not have an economic crime act to deal specifically with these criminal activities but relies on obsolete relevant laws such as public fraud and money laundering.
It's about time for our lawmakers to earnestly consider enacting such an act to protect the public and to deal harshly with "white collar" fraudsters.