The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is working to devise a web-based programme to analyse and track down offenders who fall afoul of the Foreign Business Act, including Thais who operate illegally as nominees for foreign investors.
Acting as a nominee constitutes an economic crime that negatively affects Thai interests, deputy DSI chief Korrawat Panprapakorn said on Tuesday.
He said that Thailand as an Asean member has engaged in trade liberalisation to pull in more foreign investors, though it has been found that some foreign nationals have exploited legal loopholes in Thai laws to run businesses that pose a threat to national security.
The Foreign Business Act was enacted in 1999 to safeguard Thai businesses that were still not ready to compete with foreign counterparts and to ensure fair trade between them, he said.
"However, some foreign investors are not happy with Thailand applying different business standards to them so they have tried to set up companies using Thais as proxies who hold shares on their behalf," Pol Lt Col Korrawat said.
In light of this, the department is now collaborating with the Department of Business Development, the Provincial Administration Department, the Revenue Department and the Immigration Bureau to devise a tool to analyse the offences, with a programme showing a timeline of offender actions, Pol Lt Col Korrawat said.
He added that the programme will be introduced first in major provinces such as Surat Thani and Chiang Mai which attract many foreign investors.