Mr Napintorn said the Ministry of Commerce is working with the Ministry of Interior to investigate around 46,000 companies across six types of businesses suspected of foreign ownership through local nominees, reports the Bangkok Post.
These firms have registered addresses across the country, and provincial governors have been instructed to lead task forces to inspect them in a bid to determine whether they are violating the Foreign Business Act.
The nationwide inspection is currently underway. Smaller provinces are expected to complete their investigations within three months, while those with significant numbers of such companies may require up to half a year.
Mr Napintorn said he has assigned the Commerce Ministry’s provincial offices to report back to him on the progress made every three months.
If a company is found operating in a sector in which foreign ownership is banned, a deeper investigation will follow to check whether Thai shareholders are genuinely investing and participating in the business, or merely acting as nominees, said the deputy minister.
Recognising limitations in existing laws, Mr Napintorn said he is working with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) to classify nominee-related activities as financial crimes, which would allow authorities to seize assets of violating companies.
The proposal underwent a public consultation, and a new bill is now being drafted by the Council of State (CoS). It is expected to be submitted to the cabinet within two months.
Between last September and this January, some 820 nominee businesses, which had caused damage worth over B12.4 billion, were prosecuted. The majority were in the tourism and real estate sectors.
The latest development came after the Department of Business Development started probing companies with foreign stakes ranging from 0.01% up to 49.99%.
This raised the number of targeted companies from 26,830 to 46,918, with e-commerce and hotels among the sectors checked.