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UNIVERSITY FIRES PROF WHO SPOKE OUT IN DEATH CONTROVERSY

December 16, 2016, 12:46 am
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CONTROVERSIAL UNIVERSITY IN THAILAND LETS WHISTLE BLOWER GO

An American professor who questioned the circumstances of the death of another lecturer at Webster University’s Thai campus at Cha-am has been fired without reason.


Donald Johnson had been asked to sign a ‘cease and desist order’ by the University’s director Keith Welsh, banning him from showing post death photographs of James Hughes, whose badly bruised and lacerated body was found in a room in a hotel in Hua Hin in September.

The University also demanded that Johnson list all those he had spoken to or show the pictures to in relation to Mr. Hughes.

Police have ruled that there was no evidence of foul play in James Hughes' death. His brother David in New York, and many others are not convinced.




James Hughes
Curiously the trouble University stated in its ‘Cease and Desist Order’ that those in breach of the order would be reported to the United States Embassy and the Thai police.




Clearly Don Johnson thought that the circumstances around James Hughes’ death required debate and some further investigation and he gave an interview to the Bangkok Post being quoted in a story in Spectrum headlined: ‘What happened to my dead brother’.

Donald Johnson announced he had been fired on Facebook.





“I wasn't given any reason. Giving me a reason for dismissal would allow me to challenge it as untrue. 

‘Instead they sent out a very neutral statement saying Dr. Johnson won't be with us next semester. They are paying out my contract until end of May and giving me 3 months’ severance on top of that. They are meeting the legal requirements. It's a bribe to leave quietly. Doesn't look like I have any choice although I would like to stay.’

The Webster University Cha-Am campus has been under attack not only on social media but in the educational media and press. On this site we exposed one of its administrators as a man with bogus degrees. There however has been a change in director of the university.


(headline from the College Times)


Most hard hitting has been the website ‘College Times’ but an article in the 'Inside Higher Ed' does not inspire confidence in the set up in Cha-am.

The hiring and firing of foreign academics in Thailand is a widely controversial subject. Attempts were made once by aggrieved academics to produce a list of 'dodgy' educational establishments but the idea had to be abandoned due to the risks involved.

https://collegetimes.co/webster-university-thailand-corruption-fraud/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/10/reports-troubles-webster-u%E2%80%99s-branch-campus-thailand

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DEALING WITH SEX ATTACKS – THE THAI POLICE WAY

December 19, 2016, 3:44 pm
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COMMENT

I am not sure how many times have I seen the Australian authorities announcing they have sent police officers over to Thailand yet once again to train Thai police in how to deal with sex crimes.

They have done it several times, and so have the Brits, Americans, and others.



Several people in the charities in the business of protecting the victims of sex crimes, both adult and juvenile, have voiced to me the futility of such exercises.




Officers volunteer to go on them I believe because, well if they’re out of town it’s a trip. And if they are in town, it’s a change. They probably get stickers and certificates too.

There of course has been no noticeable change in how police treat victims of sexual assault, and what better case to illustrate the point than the recent case of an Australian woman who said she was abducted in the Khao Sarn Road backpacker area of Bangkok and taken to a derelict building and raped.

What is the first things the police do? 

Well they put out a statement saying essentially, they do not believe her story because she was in the Khao Sarn Road area and caught on CCTV and thus could not have been at the rape location at the same time.   And then they also announced her story was suspicious because she said she was accosted by a ‘tuk tuk’ driver, but an alleged suspect was a motorcycle taxi driver.


Mail Online


No only that that they released the video of her in Khao Sarn Road so the Thai press could have a field day writing about foreigner who was hamming up a rape claim.



Yet on the video it was quite clear that she, clearly drunk. Thus many people on forums have also said it was her own fault.

Women have been known to make up stories of rape. But that it quite rare. In in those cases it is either invariably an act or revenge against someone they know, or perhaps to cover up their own discretion.

If foreign women knew what I know about the conduct of Thai police in previous rape cases they probably would not report them at all.  The problem is that Thailand appears deceptively safe. 

But the Australian woman courageously stood her ground. 




And lo and behold the police then announced they had caught the rapist and he was a person who had just been released from prison for serving a sentence for a similar offence.



Alex injuries to her chin and below hand
Automatically Thai police also discredited the account of a young American woman Alexandra Fairfield, 26, who said she was abducted in Bangkok, and fought off a sex attack. She said she had been locked in a room but got away by jumping from the second floor and hiding in bushes.

A GoFundMe page raised some US$7000 to get her back to the USA.
Alex did not make a police report because she did not trust the police. One of the alleged gang wore a brown uniform. However, given the fact that this was her first trip to Bangkok and that she admittedly was drunk or had been slipped a mickey fin, on her return she gave a plausible account of her ordeal.

The money raised, an amazing tribute to the citizens of Ravenna, West Michigan, paid for her trip back and the surplus was paid to a charity dealing with sex crimes in Thailand.
Thai Police also discredited her report, but as they did not have a complaint from her, they were not on particularly shaky ground.

What was worse was the male foreign residents of Thailand who were quick to discredit her story.

One such critic was Stickboy Bangkok an elderly Scot who makes cash out of the boiler room boys advertising their sex venues in his column which he writes from dredging the local media and adding his own colour and slant. He wrote:


"The problem is Alex Fairfield’s story has more holes in it than a golf course.
'I’m not saying the young woman is lying, just the story, if true, lacks many important details and for me doesn’t add up…. 
"Hope Miss Fairfield and her friend get home safely and she wasn’t harmed but her story, in my opinion, is the work of her imagination after something of her own doing went pear-shaped.
"Jumping balconies and hiding in bushes all night my arse…"

Stickboy also queried the money which was raised, as if, well, he did not have it himself. And did he really hope she got home safely, or was that a just a softener for his accusation that she had made it all up to cover her own actions? 

The fact is that Thailand is dangerous for women. It’s a fact Thais know, especially Thai women many of whom will not get alone in a cab at night unless they know the driver and have pre-booked.


In another foreign case the Bangkok Post will be running a story today confirming that Hua Hin police say there was no foul play in the case of the death of James Hughes, a lecturer as Webster University, Cha-am. The pathologist had confirmed that he had died from ‘fatty liver disease’.

Hughes, was found dead in the Poung Pen Hotel in September. His head and body had severe bruising and lacerations.
After three months of total lack of clarity in this case the deceased’s friends will not be letting it rest there.

There has been some disquiet about the quality of work at the Police Hospital in Bangkok after foreign pathologists expressed disbelief at evidence presented in the trial of two young Burmese for the murder of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Millar on the island of Koh Tao.

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FIGHTING MY KIDS WITH THAI LAW

December 20, 2016, 4:05 pm
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My eldest. Annie, 9, appears to have won the 'Kindest Girl in the Class Award', Matthew, coming on 7, is playing the part of Joseph and singing with the Mother of God in the primary school Nativity Play, and my bleating youngest is playing the 'Third Sheep' with cute aplomb. So which of them murdered my %$£*@@ pineapple!




Whoever did it used the dagger, which I had used the previous day for slicing chillies and green papaya for a Thai som tam.

The suspects' dark side


Do my kids have a dark side? I investigated. 

Suspect one Annie, 9, was a cool customer. 

‘Come on daddy. How can it be me with my school record.
‘Besides,” she added,“You know what the boys are like.”

I did, but I was not taken in.  A month or so before on Halloween I had seen their dark side.

Matthew, 6, as usual blamed his sister



Matthew: Almost am angel

Archie apologised straight away. But he apologises for everything. His big sister calls him 'Collateral damage'. Then he asked: 'Is it Christmas tomorrow?'  

But as I said. Archie is always apologising. Not just for what he has just done, but also for what he is going to do. 

His crimes so far have included swinging on my bedroom door bringing it off its hinges with a little help from his brother. Putting green slime in Annie’s bed and many things with slugs, snails and spiders and even dead wildlife in the house.

====================
(His role as 3rd sheep shows he has only marginally better Thespian qualities than me, At prep school also had a non-speaking part as the dead body of Julius Caesar as Mark Antony delivered his ‘I come not to bury Caesar but to praise him’ speech.

My stage directions were along the lines of don't speak, don't move, don't breathe! I was gagged!

I was not going to miss my five minutes of fame. I developed an itchy nose, which I duly scratched from under the sheet which covered me. 

It added what I like to think was a comedic element to a boring play which did not even seem to me to be in English. At the age of 11 I was not yet hooked on Shakespeare)
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Archie plays on his cuteness and has an exotic taste in women far beyond the ken of a normal 4-year-old, and holds court with them at Pirates Playschool at the weekend. He’s not as innocent as he looks.


I told the kids I was investigating Thai style and told Matthew to take a bite out of an apple I had in my hand. He had a bite before falling asleep so I took it from his tiny hand and rushed down  and placed it in the murder scene.

The following morning I had them at their weakest. At the crack of 06.45 I had them all out of their beds.

Matthew spent the usual 20 minutes zombie like looking for his socks, trousers, school sweatshirt, socks and shoes which as usual he had distributed throughout every room of the house, then as he came from brushing his teeth and washing his face I confronted him.  

‘It was you!” I said.“There’s the proof.  I am taking that apple away for DNA testing, finger printing, the lot. Your DNA and finger prints will be found at the scene of the crime.*”
Matthew rubbed his eyes.

 “That’s not fair, daddy. YOU put the apple there. And it must have your fingerprints too *. What’s DNA?”
==============================================
*Legal Note: In the trial of Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin for the brutal murders of British backpackers of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller it was revealed that police never found DNA on the murder weapon. But the defence did. And it was not of the defendants.

===============================================

I replied.“You don’t need to know what DNA is. In court it will be bits of paper and charts which show that you are 999.999 in a million the most likely killer. This is now a Thai investigation and the police, forensic scientists and court won’t understand why either.  So, your goose is cooked sonny boy!” (*)

================================================
*Legal Note: In the trial of Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin. Not only did foreign experts not understand the Thai Police DNA findings. They concluded that either police forensic experts were incompetent, or framing the defendants. There was no chain of custody in the case hence the DNA used to convict the defendant could have come from anywhere.
------------------------------------------
“But, I didn’t’ do it!”. 

I told him if he did not make a full confession I would take him off the his tablet for a month, ban him eating spicy tom yam noodles. and watching ‘Swashbucklers’ on Kids TV.

‘That must be worse than death daddy,” said Matthew, but then he paused. “But I’m not confessing because I did not do it.”

I felt bad. I told him: 'Ok you can go to the Thai court.As you were born in Thailand, and have an influential uncle you'll get bail. Just don't show your foreign passport. It’s not so bad. If you play the system you’ll have grand-children before you even reach the Supreme Court.*”
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*Legal Note: Somchai Khunpleum, also known as Kamnan Poh, the Godfather of Thailand’s eastern seaboard and father of Santanya Khunpleum, former Minister of Culture was convicted of murder of his chief political rival in Chonburi to 25 years in 2004. He had been appealing ever since. He was arrested briefly but ended up in hospital. This month he was named as one of those pardoned by the new King of Thailand. 
Thailand’s longest case lasted more than 25 years during which half the defendants and witnesses died.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was the last day of school. Annie, Matthew, and Archie all came rushing out with Christmas cards they had made for ‘Daddy’. It was hard to think there was a killer in their midst.

‘So, daddy. Have you solved the murder?” said Annie in the car on the way home. ‘Are you really an investigator?  You’re not much good, are you? So, who did it then?” She laughed.

“My money is on Matthew,” I replied.

“Silly daddy. It was me?” “You?”  “Yes me!” she replied.

“Gotcha!” I replied.

 “No, you haven’t”, said Annie. “It’s not on tape!” 

Annie thought she had a point. 

“Yes I have. This is a Thai investigation. Thai Police don’t record confessions"

I let the subject drop. But back at home Matthew came running up to me shouting. 'Daddy, daddy. I have the evidence'.

And then in front of my very eyes he showed me a YouTube video clip showing a tiny hand thrusting a knife into my Waitrose pineapple.

"That's Annie;s YouTube page!" said Matthew.


Annie tried to snatch Matthew's tablet from my hands “But I was doing it for you,” she said.

For me?

“You said you would not have a natural pineapple fruit in the house,” she smiled. “I saw it on the sideboard and thought I’ll do daddy a favour.”

LEGAL NOTE: The Natural Fruit Company of Thailand took multiple cases against Andy Hall, a British workers’ rights activist who was part of the Finn Watch Team which published a damning report about the treatment of Burmese migrant workers at their pineapple plant in Prachuap Khiri Kan province of Thailand. 


Natural Fruit sued for criminal libel under the Computer Crime Act, having won won one case and lost another Andy Hall quit Thailand joining several foreign journalists who had been pushed into exile including yours truly. Truth is not a defence to libel in Thailand. And what is in the public interest is up to the Thai judges, who are currently following the interests of the military government.

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Now I have a problem. My nine-year-old daughter has a YouTube page and she is editing her own videos.

Do I close her down reminding her of the dangers of the internet.
No, I'll remind her of the dangers and then I'll think I'll buy her Final Cut Pro.

Happy Christmas - one and all!

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THAILAND CONTINUES TO CRACK DOWN ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH

December 21, 2016, 9:02 pm
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The Thai military government in its continued strategy to cover up matters it does not want the public to know about, not least of which are its hands in the till style government while supposedly clamping down on corruption, continues to clamp down on freedom of expression.

Its rather humourless leader General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who unfortunately in the west is still best known for his comments after the murder and rape of British backpacker Hannah Witheridge - when he said of western women "Can they be safe in bikinis ... unless they are not beautiful?" has been shoring up the Computer-Related Crime Act.

This somewhat flies in the face of his recent assertion that Thailand would soon join the ranks of the First World.  Here's today's take from Human Rights Watch.
I



(New York, December 21, 2016) – Thailand’s new Computer-Related Crime Act (CCA) gives overly broad powers to the government to restrict free speech, enforce surveillance and censorship, and retaliate against activists, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite concerns expressed by civil society, business, and diplomatic representatives, the controversial law was unanimously adopted on December 16, 2016, by the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly.

“The adoption of the Computer-Related Crime Act drastically tightens the chokehold on online expression in Thailand,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Hundreds of activists have been prosecuted since the May 2014 coup for exercising their freedom of expression online, and these latest amendments will make it even easier for the junta to punish its critics.”

Before the law was passed, more than 300,000 people signed a petition demanding that the National Legislative Assembly reject the controversial amendments, which they saw as an infringement of privacy and freedom of expression on the Internet.

Thailand has an obligation to protect human rights, but it is moving in the opposite direction, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly raised concerns that Thai authorities, private companies, and individuals often retaliate against those reporting alleged human rights violations by filing defamation lawsuits, accusing activists and victims of making false statements.

Since the May 2014 coup, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta has arrested and filed computer crime charges under the old 2007 CCA against numerous critics who posted commentary on Facebook and other social media platforms, alleging corruption by junta leaders. Articles 14(1) and (2) of the new law provide grounds for the government to prosecute anything they designate as “false” and, in the case of article 14(1), “distorted” information, terms which are likely to be open to abuse as past prosecutions have shown.

The new CCA is also likely to increase censorship due to its ambiguity, Human Rights Watch said, because of the broad grounds for offenses “likely to cause damage to the public” under article 14, including “false or partially false” data, “distorted or partially distorted” data, or data likely to “cause public panic” or harm “maintenance of national security, public safety, national economic security, public infrastructure serving the public interest.” Service providers such as social media platforms and access providers will also be required to delete or otherwise prevent the availability of such content following government notification, or they will also be subject to punishment for that content.

Furthermore, new provisions under articles 16/1 and 16/2 state that the court can order information that is found to be false and having caused damage to other persons or the public to be removed from the Internet and deleted from computer systems. If these articles are enforced arbitrarily, such actions will have dire consequences on research and reporting on contentious topics of public concern, including incidents related to serious state-sponsored rights violations, such as the 2003 “drugs war,” the 2010 violent political confrontations, and abusive counterinsurgency operations in the southern border provinces.

Under newly amended article 20(3) of the CCA, even content online that is not illegal can be banned and ordered to be deleted by the court based on a request from a computer data screening committee, appointed by the Minister of Digital Economy and Society, stating the the content is considered to be against public order or good morals of the people. The precedent of interpretation by authorities that are neither judicial nor independent from the executive has troubling implications for human rights reporting. After the May 2014 coup, the government blocked the Human Rights Watch Thailand webpage for containing information that was considered by authorities to be “inappropriate.”

The government’s interest in using the new law to suppress criticism was indicated on December 15, 2016, when Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha gave a media interview stressing the need for authorities to have a tool to act against online content considered to be critical and offensive to the monarchy. Criticizing the monarchy is a serious criminal offense in Thailand. In most cases, convictions of those charged with lese majeste (insulting the monarchy) result in harsh sentences. Since the May 2014 coup, Thai authorities have charged at least 68 people with lese majeste, mostly for posting or sharing comments online.

Privacy of online communication is also seriously under threat under the new CCA amendments, Human Rights Watch said. The amendments expand data collection and other investigatory powers under the act by granting their use in any criminal offense under other laws that involve the use of computer systems, computer data, or devices for carrying out the offense. Service providers may be required to retain user data for up to two years in unspecified special cases, an increase from the previous requirement of up to one year. The new articles 18(2) and (3) continue to allow authorities to access “traffic data” and other user-related data without a court order to assist their investigation of an offense under the CCA or other laws. Article 18(7) also allows authorities with a court order to potentially compel service providers to assist with decrypting encoded data, raising concerns that the law could undermine the use of encryption tools that protect cybersecurity and the privacy of users.

The government has shown an increasingly aggressive attitude toward critics of the CCA. The spokesman of the Prime Minister’s Office, Lt. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, told media on December 18 that people who participated in any form of protest against the CCA could be prosecuted for causing public disturbances. Two days earlier, the Army Cyber Center warned that posting or sharing online commentary that criticizes the CCA could be considered false information and result in prosecution.

“Under this draconian law, Internet users will have to look over their shoulders when going online,” Adams said. “The Thai military government has now given itself sweeping power to monitor, search, and acquire information, invading people’s privacy on a massive scale.”

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BBC TO GO HEAD TO HEAD IN THAI COURT IN COMPUTER CRIME ACT CASE

December 27, 2016, 4:01 pm
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The BBC is to support its south-east Asia correspondent Jonathan Head in a battle involving Thailand’s fraudulent property market after a court in Phuket accepted a case of slander under the country’s Computer Crime Act against him.


Jonathan Head confronting Thai lawyer  Pratuan Thanarak in Phuket


Jonathan Head said today: “We will fight the case because we have to. The report was sound, the allegations in it carefully phrased and well-founded. I am very fortunate to have a large organization behind me who feel the same way. The BBC's reputation is at stake and we have to defend it.”

He added that it would be hard to predict how the case , which has now been accepted, played out in practice.



Ian Rance with his Thai children

The court in Phuket, which has a notorious reputation among foreign buyers who have bought property, or thought they had, on the tourist island, also accepted a case against Briton Ian Rance, who says he was cleaned out property worth 80 million baht (£1.8 million). The plaintiff is lawyer Pratuan Thanarak.

Ian Rance and another victim Irishman Colin Vard, who was defrauded out of seven properties to the tune of a similar amount, were highlighted in a report made by Jonathan Head for the BBC2 morning news magazine programme ‘Victoria Derbyshire’.  


Colin Vard
Colin Vard is being sued separately for slander under the Computer Crime Act. He too claims that his properties were taken by crooked lawyers and money lenders. 

His young Irish born daughter Jessie has a massively popular Facebook page ‘Justice for Jessie’ with over a million readers. 
But earlier this month the news website ‘Coconuts’ published a story saying she would stop doing ‘sexy model shoots’ because of the mean comments she had received).



Jonathan Head and Ian Rance must surrender to bail next month. From then on Jonathan’s work visa will be revoked and he will be on a court visa. Ian Rance is already on a court visa (see below).


Just how Jonathan Head will be able to carry on his work as a correspondent remains to be seen. Under the court terms, unless an exception is made, he must apply to the court if he wishes to leave the country, something of a handicap if he wishes to cover a breaking news story in another south east Asian country.


Frauds on foreigners buying property in Thailand are widespread. All the British Embassy does is to advise prospective buyers to employ a good lawyer. 

But most foreigners encountering the law in Thailand and who have written to this site, say their lawyers have been bent.  And even the Embassy list of lawyers has included crooks and the Embassy accepts no responsibility if things go wrong.

The problem is made worse by travel programmes in the United Kingdom, who also offer property for sale in Thailand on their websites and magazines.  




One such programme‘A Place in the Sun’ (Channel 4) gives the following advice to readers.

“In Thailand foreigners cannot buy freehold property except through a company. Most buy a 30-year lease which is automatically renewable two more times, making 90 years. Like in any purchase, ensuring you have a specialist and independent property lawyer will iron out any problems or worries.”


Readers are left to wonder who are these specialist and independent property lawyers are who can guarantee those 90 year leases.  

They might like to turn for advice to the victims on Koh Samui who this year were turfed out of the properties they bought 30 years ago and that these lease arrangements are kicking in as blatant frauds.

In the Ian Rance case the frauds began in 2008. 

He discovered them in 2010 and has been fighting ever since. The up and coming court case could also last for years.

Ian has not been allowed to leave the country, nor is he legally allowed to support himself by working.   

In a western court this case would undoubtedly blow open that scandal of the criminal involvement of the authorities, lawyers, and even courts in the systematic frauds on foreigners looking for 'A Place in the Sun'.

In Thailand however it won't. Once a verdict is announced the BBC will not legally be able to criticise the court, at least not from Thailand. Will it do on a global scale?   It's not the top of its news agenda.

The Computer Crime Act is not only used by the government to stifle criticism but, as we have shown on this site, is used by the common criminal, to get away with fraud, and is contributing to the country's growing reputation as ' Fraud Central'.





ANATOMY OF A PROPERTY FRAUD -
IAN RANCE


Ian Rance came to Phuket in 2001 opening two businesses, Phuket Island Development Co. Ltd. and Paklok Golf Villas Co. Ltd., which owned the property he had bought.  He lived, in Kathu, Phuket, with his wife Suda Srirattana and they had three children together.

In 2008, without his knowledge, Suda forged documents of both companies.  The forged signatures of Ian were notarised by two separate lawyers to gain control of the companies.  

She colluded with a money lender and an agent working for the money lender. The assets of both companies were sold to the money lender using forged Power of Attorneys on a promise that the land could be bought back.  In one company a stolen ID was used to install a ghost Director who was used as a diversion, issuing false POA's to the agent for the money lender to enable the company assets to be stolen.


Ian#s forged signature


Sky high interest and other charges were front loaded into the price paid for the land titles so very little money was paid out by the money lender.  That illegal interest created the spiral of debt that 25-year-old girl Suda could not escape.  

In early 2009, she was persuaded by the money lenders’ agent to collude with a second money lender.  This time the target was the family home and a second house being extended and refurbished by Ian.  

The family home was protected by a 30-year lease which was cancelled by the money lender's agent using a forged POA whilst the second money lender and Suda watched and waited at the land office.  

Immediately after cancellation, on the same day, the money lender bought the house for a very cheap price. Again, the price did not match the money paid.  Again, came the promise that the house could be bought back but with sky high interest and charges to ensure that it was not possible.   Six weeks later the second money lender and the agent use the same tactic to grab another house which Ian was extending and renovating.

During this time, nothing was said to Ian Rance, who was spending large sums of money improving the properties, encouraged by Suda.  He was unaware that they had been sold on to the money lenders, who had not only bought them for 25% of value but were now laughing as Ian unknowingly improved them for the money lender's benefit.

The scam unfolded in 2010 when Ian asked his lawyer to check the capital of his company which uncovered the change in Directors and led to all the land titles being checked – uncovering the huge fraud.  In total, around 80 million baht of assets had been seized.  
Once the facts were known Suda ran away leaving her children. Suda was however penniless – any money received had been repaid in interest.  

Then came the threats of violence to Ian and threats of kidnap on the children, which resulted in Ian and his family being exiled from Phuket within weeks.

This is the first chapter of the scam.  The second chapter involves the lawyers.  

At first Ian employed a Phuket Law Firm.  They were corrupt, refusing to protect the land and delaying at every stage.  Almost certainly in cahoots with the money lenders they lied and drafted claims that were unwinnable.  They refused to charge the money lenders or the agent criminally.  Eventually they were sacked and a lawyer from Bangkok was employed.

He was worse.  Promising to fix the bad claims and again drafting unwinnable claims and a host of other tactics designed to prolong yet not win any of the cases.  Eventually, having scammed millions from Ian in fees for his worthless services, he was sacked too.  
The money lender who stole the house sued Ian back on grounds that Ian consented and knew all about the fraud which has destroyed his family.  

That case is suspended for years as it is dependent on the case brought by Ian against the money lender to finish.  However, the money lender’s lawyer managed to get the court to accept the case.  It was accepted because Ian knew nothing about the case despite being in Phuket Court several times every month in cases involving the same lawyer.  Nothing was said.  The papers intentionally sent to the wrong address.  It resulted in Ian being forced to pay bail and his passport seized by the court.  

The result of living in Bangkok for safety and the passport in Phuket together with his family visa being suspended in favour of a court visa, makes complying with the monthly visa stamps very expensive and time consuming.

These court proceedings have been ongoing for five years.  They have cost upward of 5 million baht so Ian and his family are now destitute.  The judgements of the court are looking increasingly suspicious.

The court took 3 months to schedule a hearing to protect the company land.  The first hearing was adjourned for several months after the money lender objected to the protection.  He then rushed to mortgage it to the Kasikorn Bank during the adjournment. 
 The same local branch had already granted a mortgage on land owned by the other company so the Kasikorn Bank were already co-defendants with Suda, the money lender and Agent yet the same local branch issued the mortgage on two further pieces of land totalling 13 million baht – to the same money lender buying from the same seller!   It is money laundering.  The money lender is no longer paying the interest.

The court dismissed the cases brought by Ian to recover the company assets saying that he had no power to sue as he had been removed as Director by fraud.  

Ironically the court did restore the Directorships so Ian has now had to sue the cases again at great cost in the name of the Companies.
The court sentenced Suda to jail for the forgery of the company papers and for the forgery of the Power of Attorney used to cancel the lease on the house.

Despite the fraud being proved, the court said Ian had no power to sue the money lender over the theft of the house.  

The court has just dismissed one of the criminal cases against the money lender and the agent for stealing the company land on grounds of lack of evidence.

Now Ian and his family have nothing left.  Time is running out and money is all but gone so educating the children and feeding them will soon be impossible.  Ian has no income and cannot even seek work as the court is holding his passport and anyway a monthly work permit if even available would cost more in travel than could be earned.

He has been to every possible source of help.  The Phuket Governor, the Phuket Navy, The Ministry for Justice, The Attorney General, The Human Rights Office, the Lawyers Council, the Department of Special Investigation, the Prime Minister’s Office and the police.  

The British Embassy, he said, has been completely disinterested or involved save for a letter requesting the return of the passport which the court refused on grounds he might run away.  

Persons who have sued this site under the Computer Crime Act:


Drew Walter Noyes: 61, US Citizen, first exposed by the 'Star' in Wilmington, North Carolina, with allegations of property and share fraud, and sexual harassment. 

Claimed falsely to be an American lawyer and set up Pappa Law and One-Stop-Service Center, to deal with property and legal cases, using cheap Thai lawyers.

Was allowed to flee to the United States despite being convicted of extortion. Occupation: Legal adviser in the property business. Two cases dismissed. One guilty verdict brought it on claims by a poster that he was a pimp. He ran beer bars in Pattaya.


Wanrapa Boonsu, Noyes common-law-wife and now owner of One Stop Service Center. She sued but case was dismissed. But she was acquitted of the case of extortion even though police had tape of her demanding money from the plaintiff - Michael Goulet - to stop a police raid on his premises the Thonglor Beauty Clinic in Pattaya when something 'illegal would be found'.  The case is being appealed but now she is an official court interpreter!


Brian Goudie, aka Goldie, 49: Sued for slander after we exposed him as a fake lawyer and fake ex-Royal Marine officer. In actual fact a warrant had been issued for his arrest by Scottish Police for fraud on the Royal Bank of Scotland, and he was convicted and jailed in Australian for six years for stealing from a mining company. Case dismissed.  He set up a company called 'Alba Laws' to fleece foreigners. He was jailed for three years for cheating a 78-year-old American woman out of some US$250,000 but fled while on bail and on appeal. Warrants also out for him for fraud and revenge porn related crimes. Thai Police can't find him.


David John Hanks, 68, former owner and licencee of Masquerades Brothel in Keysborough, outside Melbourne, Victoria, sued this site after a poster described him as a 'pimp' in a comment. He admitted in court being the owner and licencee of the brothel. The court did not except the Oxford Dictionary meaing of the word pimp. He currently earns money as a bail bondsman and a prisoner (see recent story) accused him of stealing his 800,000 baht bail money. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p032t97v



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STACEY DOOLEY PLEASE COME BACK TO THAILAND...STACEY? ARE YOU THERE?

January 4, 2017, 5:34 am
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CAN THE BBC’S ‘HEART OF GOLD’ SOFTEN THAILAND’S STRONGMAN?




Stacey Dooley Versus General Prayuth Chan-Ocha 





I have been playing ‘catch-up’ recently viewing television programmes about Thailand aired in the UK while I was away. This is eased by the fact that there are so many channels repeating old progammes – so this weekend I was able to watch ‘Tourism and the Truth – Thailand’ under the BBC 3 strand ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’.




Stacey was plucked and pushed into stardom after being featured in a series called ‘Blood, Sweat and T-shirts’ where she was shocked at the poor wages and conditions of people in Third World countries who were making clothes for people in the west.  This youngster with a heart of gold would also spontaneously burst into tears at seeing these conditions.


It was a good idea and a novel approach putting a fresh face to old problems without the cynicism of old hacks who had been pounding this beat it seems since the beginning of time.

If things went wrong – and they did – Stacey could burst into tears or react with anger – and what better place than south-east Asia than to be frustrated.  

An early programme she reported on under the ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’ banned was about child prostitution in Cambodia, where she saved a young prostitute setting her up in a career in ‘hair-dressing and beauty’ something which many an elderly foreigner had done before her, when an education was too expensive, paedophiles too possibly.

But things went wrong when the promised a raid on a brothel employing under-aged girls totally collapsed and none were to be found – because, of course, the brothel owner had been tipped off.

Stacey went on to do a programme about the Thailand and the mad drug ‘yaa baa’ and going on two raids, one a farcical raid on a nightspot in Bangkok where nothing and no infringers were found, least of all Brits,  and another with police in Chiang Mai where she also witnessed nothing being found, but was later taken to see a massive haul which had just been seized, but not allowed access to the accused, leaving the viewer with the impression that this might have been old news.

Stacey ended up almost pulling her hair out outside ‘Bangkwang Prison’ after being promised interviews with Brits inside -  a promise which was not fulfilled. The cameras did not show how she reacted on this occasion but she went on the programme to suggest that she had been threatened with banning from Thailand for not being allowed to tell her story properly. Good TV.

Actually, she was trying to ‘Britify’ a story which was not really British. Most Brits in jail for drugs offences in Thailand are there for the old hardies, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin – except those who have been set up of course – because yaa baa is the easiest drug to slip into evidence.

Considering some 2,500 people were ‘injudicially killed’ during Thailand’s ‘War on Drugs’ and historically the heroin trade from the Golden Triangle, which is where the ‘yaa baa’ comes from, was traditionally controlled by rival factions in the Thai Police and Army, who banked with the Bangkok Bank bringing the bank to the fore, I was surprised Stacey did not give this part of the story attention.

Never mind, in the programme ‘Tourism and the Truth – Thailand’ broadcast in 2011 Stacey went to work as a chambermaid at a hotel in Phuket and of course could not keep up with the skills of those who had been doing it for years. 




More tears; but she did point out the gap between the rich and the poor – now the third biggest gap of all the world’s countries – although she missed the point that technically about half of the beach side properties have been constructed illegally anyway.  Not that the law has much to do with Phuket.

And then she tackled the question of Thailand’s sea gypsies, specifically those on Rawai Beach, Phuket, who have been forced off their land to make way for hotels built by Thailand’s ‘rich elite’.
This programme was a real ‘humdinger’.  



She dragged a hopeful sea gypsy leader to Bangkok on a promise of an interview with the Prime Minister.  The Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, was unfortunately called away leaving one of his advisers to speak on his behalf – not even a Deputy Prime Minister. Prime Ministerial advisers are of course as common as Brits in a Thai a go-go-bar.




Still Stacey welled up with tears of happiness as the grateful Moken leader waved goodbye thinking a real difference had been made and the programme ended with the announcement.


‘AFTER STACEY’S TRIP THE PRIME MINISTER OF THAILAND PERSONALLY INTERVENED IN THE SEA GYPSIES’ CASE TO MAKE SURE IT IS DEALT WITH FAIRLY’.

Stacey promised the Thau government she would continue to monitor the case.

And there you have it. But of course, WE know that is a load of old baloney. Fast forward to 2017 and the sea gypsies are in a worse state than ever. 

Thai government statements should never be taken at face value. Perhaps the producers could have consulted the BBC man on the ground.

Things came to a head last year when the sea gypsies, also called Moken or Chao lay, were attacked by thugs working for Baron World Trade Limited who were building hotel on their land on Rawai Beach.  




Perhaps Stacey’s investigation could have involved the owners of the land, and who originally stole the land from them.  They would have found out that Baron World Trade Ltd, which was formed in 1900 and has been buying up land ever since, has amongst its five directors a certain Chalee Sophonpanich, who is the son of Bangkok Bank Chairman Chatri Sophonpanich. There’s that bank again.

The latest promise from the Thai Government came from Deputy Prime Minister Deputy Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan who last year ordered state agencies to resolve this dispute and announced that there must not be any more violence. “The wrongdoers must be arrested.”

Anybody heard of any resolution or arrests?

No, despite the DSI saying that the gypsies had a legal claim to the land and that there was clear evidence they had been there for over 60 years the company has secured the co-operation of the local governor, district chief, district militia and of course police – and Chalong Police are amongst the island’s most notorious.
So, so much for government statements.

The attitude of the company is best summed up by the it’s representative Chatree Madsatun who told the Phuket Gazette that he was not worried about any law suits and was willing to see the gypsies in court.


company men with chao talay (Phuket Gazette

 “I have no idea why they are doing this. We have the legal rights to the land. Moreover, at least nine of the sea gypsies are wanted by the Phuket Provincial Court for damaging our property. I pity them. Now, 203 of them will be the ones who pay the price.  
“These human rights activists are using them as a human shield. If we win the case, the sea gypsies will pay, and how could they possibly have the money to pay for the lawsuit. 
“This is a civil case. But if they sue us in a criminal case and we win, I will sue them back and they will be the ones who go to jail.” 
“We agreed to pause the construction because we thought we could broker an agreement with them, but that’s fallen through, so we’ll keep on doing our work.  
“The NGOs and human rights activists shouldn’t do this to the sea gypsies. Those people have no idea what they’re facing."

Yes, they do.

So, this is of course the fault of human rights activists, journalists and, I presume Stacey Dooley.

So, Stacey please go back…………………. Stacey?  Stacey?

Links:

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Tourism and the Truth - Thailand

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=A9mSs2CItGxYg6EAMb5LBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByZmVxM3N0BGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Youtube+Stacey+Dooley+The+Truth+About+Thailand%27s+Tourist+Trade&fr=mcafee#id=1&vid=b033c588ba47702bd366cb5d4d7edb34&action=view


Attack on Chao Talay: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5wxIc3Omr0&feature=youtu.be

Sea gypsies sue Baron World Trade

http://phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Sea-gypsies-sue-Baron-World-Trade/64077

Human Rights Watch and Sea Gypsies

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/02/13/thailand-investigate-attack-sea-gypsies


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CONVICTED EXTORTIONIST’S TANTALISING OFFER IN THAILAND.

January 10, 2017, 3:18 pm
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‘IT’S A STEAL!’


A notorious American confidence trickster is at it again trying to off load former government subsidised housing to tourists to the raunchy Thai resort of Pattaya.

Drew Walter Noyes, 61, from Wilmington, North Carolina, is trying to pass off a former National Housing Authority unit in the Keha Condominium. 

He claims the apartment is on the 19th floor- which is off because the Keha illustrated does not have a 19th floor.

But then again, the building, put up with Thai government grants by the National Housing Authority does not have the swimming pool or tennis courts he boasts either.  They are privately owned.
Noyes boats that the condos are occupied by ‘mainly single Thai office workers’ perhaps a tantalising carrot for those who wish to buy a place in the resort best known for its sex industry and when he writes ‘transportation very close’ one is left to wonder what that transportation is and where it goes.

Keha Condo - 19 floors


And goodness knows where the sauna, steam rooms and spa is!
Drew Noyes is accurately promoting his offer as an ‘It’s a steal deal’ on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and of course through the One Stop Service Center.

On LinkedIn, he says that he “puts deals together in the US, Thailand and Southeast Asia. As a Series 24 registered Investment Banker Drew Noyes has many 40 years experience in dealmaking, mergers and acquisitions and int'l banking.”(sic)

And he has triumphantly announced that although he left Thailand to give his children a good education in the United States, he will make his triumphant return to the Thai resort in June 17th.

If so, he’ll need to bring a lot of cash to get around his prison sentence for extortion, and must also face charges in Bangkok. 
On his LinkedIn site, he again has a totally fictitious biography stating amongst other things that he was the Chairman of the Carolina Beach Central Business District Redevelopment Committee from January 1994 to December 1997.

Arrested and convicted of extortion, but his Thai partner Wanrapa Boonsu was acquitted after police lost the tape!

Hacks in Wilmington, North Carolina, are a bit slow on their feet at the moment. Noyes was exposed in the Wilmington Morning Star (now plainly ‘The Star) in April 1995 when reporter Scott Gold where he was accused of share fraud, property fraud, sexual harassment (demanding oral sex from a junior employee to increase her hours) and of course inventing his own biography.

He was sentenced to 2 years in jail by the Pattaya Provincial Court but managed to buy himself out on bail while on appeal, paying a further US$10,000 to leave the country to resettle most of his 8 children by three Thai women. (Now 9 children by four Thai women. His last nanny gave birth last year) after he had left.

To read about the victims of Noyes, who are mainly American, who had bought ‘condos’ in Keha off him you need to go here.

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2011/10/exposed-how-american-businessman-sold.html



There have been three other victims since.






The text of the ad:

Pattaya Beach Thailand
Steal of a Deal!
Ideal Thepprasit Road Studio Condo for Sale- For Cash or Guaranteed
Financing with 50% Down payment.
On 15th floor, of 19 floor building. Perfectly located middle of building with clear OCEAN View 1 mile away!
SAFE! Security guards 24 hours, CCTV monitored, Key card entry, plenty of parking, foreigner- friendly, but most single female Thai office workers live in building. many international restaurants, shopping, bars, massage and transportation very close.
Swimming pool, tennis courts, sauna, steam rooms, spa on site.
Great holiday or vacation home or first home in Thailand.
Perfect for you and current or future Thai gf!
Great management of building.
Only 835,500 baht (US$23,200).
Title deed issued in your foreigner name or Thai name.
Homeowners dues only 200 Baht per month! Seller pays transfer fees.
To schedule a viewing or to buy now message me anytime.
Condo will sell fast!"

http://pattayatoday.net/news/news-from-around-pattaya/publisher-sentenced-to-two-years/


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THE ASSASSINATION OF A BRITON AND THE KING OF THAILAND

January 24, 2017, 8:19 pm
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A Briton gunned down in Pattaya early today had a picture on his Facebook page meeting the King of Thailand.

If the picture is genuine it begs the question why. And if it is not it could also answer the question of why he was murdered.

But what is certain is that Tony Kenway, 39, from Southampton was not just an ordinary web designer in Thailand and the answer to his murder will almost certainly come down to who his clients are.




Reports in Thailand have already suggested that in fact he was a web-designer for boiler room fraud operators.  It would explain away the Porsche Cayenne he was about to drive away in when a gun man approached, shot him, and then left on the pillion of a motorcycle - a typical Thai assassination.

He arrived in Thailand from Marbella, Spain, five years ago, Marbella is the hang out for the Costa del Sol boiler room operators.


British boiler room operators have taken over a large slice of Thailand night entertainment and sex industry for tourists - including the master lease on Nana Plaza in Bangkok, described now as the busiest compact sex complex in the world.


From Kenway's Facebook page - Leo di Caprio in 'Wolf of Wall Street'.


But Pattaya, where Kenway was murdered outside the Sanit Gym, is undoubtedly the world's sex capital. Many British Asian boiler room operators have homes in Pattaya.

If Kenway was indeed a boiler room operator, a major question mark hangs over whether the culprit, or at least the man who hired the assassin, will ever be found.

Boiler room operators in Thailand came to terms with both the military and police, who share in the spoils, years ago and it is an expensive relationship as readers of this site will know.

The pictures of him with the Crown Prince on his website is almost an advertisement saying 'nobody can touch me'.

Even mention of the name of the King of Thailand, now King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, the 10th monarch of the Chakri dynasty,or (for short Rama X) in the wrong context can mean a heft spell in prison.


With his Thai wife Pans



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WHO WILL RID ME OF THIS KNOCKING SHOP?

January 25, 2017, 3:48 pm
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Don't lean against the wall

NO URN SO FAR FOR DREW NOYES IN GRECIAN TRAGEDY

Runaway fraudster and extortionist Drew Noyes has still failed to sell a tasteless Grecian style knocking shop in Thailand indicating there are no suckers to be had or a slump in Thailand's twilight tourist industry.

From his home at 613 Green Valley Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina (which last week he reported burgled so some company or other is going to get a claim)he's again offering the as yet unopened Athena Gentle's Man Club (sic

Some wag asks: 'Has it ever been opened?'

And he replies: 'No, the owner spent some 6 million baht decorating the bar restaurant and building the rooms. Then the owner got called back to his country."

Some mistake here of course. Drew Noyes fled Jomtien after being convicted and while appealing a 2 year jail sentence for extortion.

No need to warn people to stay away from this one. But some sucker might still come alone.

Noyes says he is putting it up on Booking.com and AGODA. But he boasts with 'short time rooms' the buyer can make six times more.

In another court case in Pattaya before he left Noyes denied being a pimp. I wonder if the following pictures will be going up on Booking.com to show how he allegedly spent 6 million baht!


He is still claiming the building is the only licensed Gentleman's Club in Pattaya complete with a work permit and one year visa for the buyer.

Romantic
Plastic





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GODFATHERS, BRITS AND MURDER IN THAILAND'S 'COSTA DEL CRIME'

January 26, 2017, 6:14 am
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With the alleged assassins of Briton Tony Kenway in Thailand named and on the run Thai police remain cautious about naming the source of the victim’s wealth although, according to the Khao Sod newspaper in Bangkok, they privately admitted he was a ‘boiler room’ scammer.



It is now almost certain that 39-year-old Kenway was a modern day ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ stripping people of their retirement savings in web scams for his hedonistic lifestyle of fast cars and many properties in Thailand, although some reports also say he ran an illegal gambling website.

And the finger now seems to be appointing to associates in his business, who of course have killed before. This can happen if for instance an ‘employee’ decides to go it alone taking his ‘lists’ with him.
The Thai Police reluctance to go into any detail in to Kenway’s business may be that Kenway was arrested and charged with certain offences (not yet released) then bailed from custody by a Thai policeman of the rank of Lt. Colonel indicating the involvement of two set of police in Kenway’s business. Kenway was due in court again late next month.

There appear to be some angry people who did not want Kenway to get bail.

The most puzzling aspects of the actual murder are firstly that the alleged assassins, Briton Miles Dicken Turner and South African Abel Caldeira Bonito, seem to have taken the trouble to have flown into Thailand having previously arranged their getaway, but then gave their details when they hired the motorbike.


Secondly in a rather unique manner the whole assassination was recorded on video from within the Sanit Gym and foreign viewers of the video might wonder how well and calmly it was captured on a hand-held recording device.
Bonito and Turner

The murder was set against an interesting background of powerful Thai moneyed families who have run the eastern seaboard as their personal fiefdoms.

A long-term Mayor of Pong is Pranoem Siri-roob. His grandson Sanit is a friend of Kenway and runs the Sanit gym yesterday offering condolences to the family.

Pranoem has been a life-long friend of the most famous Godfather on Thailand’s eastern seaboard – the legendary Kamnan Poh – real name Somchai Khunpleum.

Kamnan Poh with Niels Colov, former Danish gangster at one
of his birthday parties
Somchai was convicted the premeditated murder of another businessman and politician in 2004 and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He was bailed (though never in custody) on terms of ten million baht and lost his appeal – and still did not go to jail. He was also convicted of corruption in 2005 and sentenced to five years and four months and again never went to jail.  In fact, he did not even bother to attend his trials – and local police were scared to arrest him.

For years he continued to hold massive birthday parties at his home in Chonburi invited senior police and even government politicians.
Somchai was arrested on 30 January 2013 on his way to a hospital in Bangkok's Pattanakarn area due, some believe, to behind scenes work by Thaksin Shinawatra. At the time, Thaksin’s sister Yingluck was in power.  

The exiled populist Prime Minister Thaksin is a perceived enemy of the traditional moneyed families of Thailand and even the Palace.

However, Somchai’s son Sontaaya Khunpluem was Minister of Science and Technology in Thaksin’s government and his wife Sukomol was later Minister of Culture)

Somchai however was not taken to jail – but hospital.

It is known that Thailand’s present King, while still Crown Prince visited the Siri-roob family home in Pong outside Pattaya last February. Up for discussion at that meeting was Kamnan Poh.

After being crowned King, HRH Vajiralongkorn issued a pardon to Kamnan Poh.



Kenway may well believe he was untouchable after being granted an audience with the Crown Prince at the time and Princess Srirasmi – whom the Prince ditched in 2014 – while clearing out Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division and National Bureau of ‘corrupt officials’ – (Some 80 per cent went)

Kenway not only placed a picture on his Facebook page of his audience with the now King, but also of Leo di Caprio, who played boiler room fraudster Jordan Belfort in the Hollywood movie ‘Wolf of Wall Street’.  Belfort was a boiler room fraudster who took people for over US$100m.



The picture has the caption: “Cheers to all my haters. Be careful so much more is coming.”

The 39-year-old arrived in Thailand some seven years ago from Marbella – on Spain's Costa del Sol dubbed in the UK as the 'Costa del Sol as if became the refuge of many British crime bosses,

It was also one of the original boiler room communites but many moved on because of the involvement of Europol in tracking them down and subsequent high profile arrests.

In Malaga Kenway was listed as a director of a company calling its Elite Agencies Ltd with an address at Calle Juan Dominguez Morreno, 60 Bajo, Malaga. He was the sole director and the company is now dissolved.

Boiler room operators, who created fake websites for financial companies, and offer shares ‘at an absolute steal’ now own large swathes of Thailand’s sex industry, controlling the lease of the Nana Entertainment Plaza’ in Bangkok which they promote as the largest ‘sex entertainment area’ in the world.

Bars and nightclubs provide an easy way to launder money and Thailand’s notoriously corrupt officials will turn a blind eye and even assist if the price is right.

Of course its not only boiler room scammers who have moved from Spain to Thailand, among the exodus have also been property scammers and drugs traffickers - and some people I guess who just prefer the Thai life-style.

Seems his wife and relatives know little of Kenway’s business.
Kenway’s Thai wife Somporn said on Tuesday that he had no history of conflict with anyone, though she mentioned he had a “business dispute” with a former company partner. And police in Pattaya also said they had not found any clues.

His sister, Kirsty Kenway, of Southampton was quoted as saying: “I don’t really know what happened to my brother. He had a brilliant life out there and he did a lot for charity and helped build some schools. He had even met the future king of Thailand. He was very clever and did very well.”

Tony Kenway will not be the first web scammer to be murdered in Thailand.  New Zealander Ian Travis was gunned down in an identical fashion in a BMW in Bangkok in March 2002.  He was a room manager for boiler room trading under the name Foreign Currency International - FCI

His boss James Muller was extradited back to Thailand by the US District Court in Atlanta. But Muller was never tried for the murder and released after three months.  Both the gunman and motorcycle rider were also arrested and later release despite a well-publicised re-enactment of the murder. 


Reconstruction of the murder of James Muller. Muller and his wife inset


And Chalit Sanitchon, the Thai man who allegedly liaised between Muller and the hit men was also released and charges of conspiracy to murder dropped.

Picture right: The author confronting Chalit Sanitchon, head of security for FCI after Brits fled the boiler room in Asoke, Bangkok, and told of the scam.






links:

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2014/01/talking-culture-at-not-very-secret.html

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2015/03/organised-crime-and-why-i-left-thailand.html





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LATEST THAI BOILER ROOM MURDER RATTLES CUPBOARD DOORS

January 29, 2017, 3:00 am
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OH, AND LEONARDO DI CAPRIO - THE THAI BOILER ROOM BOYS PIN-UP -  IS NOW ROOTING FOR SPURS


My, oh my. Leonardo di Caprio seems to be a popular figure down in Pattaya – at least the image of him playing Jordan Belfort in ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ is.



First up cropped Leo on the Facebook page of Tony Kenway, 39, the British boiler room scammer who was gunned down last week outside the godfather owned Sanit Sports Club near the Thai resort of Pattaya.


From Kenway's Facebook


Now Leo has turned up on the site of another Brit – namely Jason Myers – a Londoner, a Tottenham Hotspurs supporter, and yes, another boiler room low-life.  Here he has Leo supporting his favourite football team.




Apart from that, Myers’ Facebook page is not worth reading. Its full of pro-Trump stuff a lot of islamophobia and a weak joke involving police, a gun, immigrants and a rabbit.


Myers and his colleague in Pattaya fellow Brit Tony Hedges, used to work the Sparta Matrix boiler room, which was started by long term financial scammers Americans Paul Richard Bell and Gary Lloyd. Sparta Matrix was taken onwards and upwards to Croatia under Phillip Wainwright.

Paul Richard Bell is now dead. One of his last appearances before his death was to join the Pattaya Branch of Optimists International (later struck off for not paying its due to HQ) set up by our well-known scammer Drew Noyes currently on the run from a jail sentence in Pattaya for extortion.


WAINWRIGHT (SECOND LEFT) WITH PRESIDENT OF CROATIA
Anyway, if anyone wants to send Phillip Wainwright and Gary Lloyd some cash they can do so to the Business Current Account used by Philip Wainwright and Gary Lloyd.
IBAN Account Number: CH83 0025 5255 1026 4860 DAccount Holder: Global Project Management SAAccount Address: 1820 Montreux, Switzerland.Account no.: 255-102648.60DClient no.: 255-102648BIC: UBSWCHZH80A

Gary Lloyd is of course old friends of the guys who now control the lease on the Nana (Sex) Entertainment Plaza in Bangkok when there was a lot of trade in phony carbon credits.

Here’s a couple of more accounts used by Gary.


Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), Siam Paragon 0531, Gary Vay Lloyd: Acct Number:531-1-14255-7DBS Bank Ltd. Tower 1 DBS Building 6 Shenton Way, Singapore 068809SWIFT:DBSSSGSG: Acct Number:0656009863,Gary Vay Lloyd , 300 Moo 2, T. Hang Dong, A. Hang Dong, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 50230



Anyway, Myers tells some friends he’s totally straight now. He is listed as a director of the ZAZU Investor Lending Corporation giving loans to Filipinas planning to work abroad. He commutes between Pattaya and Manila. Here he is at his Xmas party in Manila for ZAZU employees.


“Our objective is to become the market leader in offering loans to OFW’s whilst providing our investors with a generous return on their investment.” 

You can’t help but chuckle at that. He should be in Britain offering payday loans at 1000% pa. But I am sure, like Tony Kenway, he gives lots of money to charity.

Jason is President of ZAZU and gives his background as follows:

Jason has been involved in the investment business for over 15 years, specialising in private equity specifically, formally having worked in several industries, including the hotel, Marketing, entertainment and media, employed by Accor (Asia) Hotels, You & I Corporation (Thailand), Nightspot Productions (Thailand) and was the Managing Director of Asian Gold Ltd. for more than a decade. Jason has also invested and represented other investors with other OFW Loan companies for many years.

This translates as he was a DJ on a Bangkok radio station, worked at importing and installing sound systems in a company which went into liquidation, Then he became massively rich.

The background for his Pattaya and Manila colleague Tony Hedges, Chairman of ZAZU, is even funnier.

MEZZANINE FINANCE

Tony has a long established background in business over the past 3 decades, within the UK, USA, Europe and Asia, working in retail, custom design, installation, property management and investment. Over the past 16 years, specialising in ‘mezzaine finance’ now being involved with a fast growing business of OFW loans was an opportunity too good to pass.

Mezzaine Finance? Does he mean Mezzanine Finance and where exactly? I think he needs to look that one up.


Meanwhile I am not holding my breath for the arrest of the alleged killer of Tony Kenway who last week were reported to have crossed the Cambodian border to Koh Kong and Sihanoukville.

Thai police have sent so many signals now to the reported suspects Briton Miles Dicken Turner, from Oxford and South African Abel Bonito Caldeira  that they should by now surely have found a place safe from extradition.


If Kenway had upset the boiler room status quo in Thailand they boiler room bosses have umpteen officials they can call on to see this goes under the carpet.

And many countries' prosecutors might hesitate if they have seen this picture.


Kenway with a well known Thai personality


Relevant links
https://fraudrecoveryblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/boiler-room-principals-in-thailand-and-linkages-to-the-leaked-panama-papers/

http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/players/lloyd_gary.htm

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2014/12/christmas-and-april-fools-day-are.html

http://www.zazu-lending-corp.com/about/mission-and-vision/

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2014/07/paradise-island-scammers-rape-drugs-and.html



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BRIT CHILD ABUSER EXPOSED IN PATTAYA AND RELEASED WAS 'ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS CASES'

February 4, 2017, 10:18 am
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A career British child abuser, who was arrested twice in Thailand for suspected offences against children faces life in prison after admitting 45 offences against children, many abroad.

In fact, of those offences, Mark Frost, also as Andrew Tracy, pleaded guilty to nine offences against children in Thailand between 2009 and 2012.

The Thai victims will not be required to give testimony.

Some of his activities in Thailand were exposed on this site and in one case after a complaint in Pattaya from a British resident Lee Booty, Frost/Tracy was allowed to leave a police station on an attempted murder charge of a juvenile within hours of his arrest.

The following day he packed his bags.

The former teacher had twice been given bail by police in Thailand and there was a suspicion of an undercover payment as he could also leave the country freely.


No beard and weightier Mark Frost/Andrew Tracy
 photographed by Lee Booty in
Mark Frost had joined the Paedophile Information Exchange in 1978.

Now the National Crime Agency has set up a hotline believing that there may be more victims out there.

Prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe said: "Sentence is obviously a matter for the courts but we would rank it as one of the most serious ones we have come across."

For full story go here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38830191

Links:

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2013/10/british-child-sex-abuser-goes-missing.html

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CHEAP CHARLIE'S CLASSY GRADUATES

February 8, 2017, 8:03 pm
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Boiler room fraud is the perfect crime in Thailand specifically because Thai police will not investigate it, and secondly the money is hidden and moved on around multiple third parties confounding even the best police in the world.



However there seems to be another one, which I must admit I had to laugh at.

 The victims are not those wishing to make lucrative investments, but young people mainly who want to come to Thailand, and then stay on in teaching jobs helping less well-off pupils and get cheated in the process.

I had been asked to take up their case – but as there seem to be enough people out there doing the same the best thing to do is just guide you there.


The scammer in question is an American called Philip Dunne, aka Philip Crabb, who has been offering franchises in TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) and TEFL courses. As we all know Thailand is desperate for English teachers, while not paying them a lot of cash.

Dunne has also been offering the TEFL courses under the banners Camp Thailand and IslandTefl and issuing his own TEFL certificates. 

It seems a cheaper way to do this is to come in to Thailand on a non-immigrant visa, get your own TEFL certificate knocked up on the Khao Sarn Road, and perhaps give yourself a couple of degrees as well.  I know this works as child abusers have been doing it for years and we have exposed some of the culprits on this site.

Philip is also very savvy about the local laws, the Computer Crime Act libel laws and threatens to ruin people who complain about his services.

According to the reports I have been reading these funds appear to help fund his wild lifestyle and fondness for Thai women.

His lifestyle is not as wild as that of the boiler room boys as it appears to centre around ‘Cheap Charlies’ in Bangkok.

So how is this the perfect crime? Well actually, it’s all low-life stuff pushing the ‘Thailand dream’ and its targets also include American’s who have falling for Thai girls and want to return.

But the fact is this will not be investigated because the bosses will be able to show they have placed ‘graduates’ in schools in Thailand because, despite repeated warnings, a seemingly unlimited number of Thai schools continue to take foreign language teachers merely on the basis that they can speak English.

Perhaps they should call Philip 'The Tefl-on Don'.

Here’s a good starting point

http://islandtefl.blogspot.co.uk/

http://summercampthailand.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/camp-thailand.html








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THE TONY KENWAY MURDER - QUE PASA?

February 14, 2017, 4:14 pm
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Readers of newspapers in Thailand might be puzzled about what has happened in the investigation into the shooting of alleged boiler room fraudster Briton Tony Kenway outside the resort of Pattaya recently.

The last reports coming from Bangkok stated that the mastermind another Brit, Toby James Nelhams, had been caught in Cambodia and was about to be handed over to Thai police. 

Readers were even treated with photos of Thai police trucks crossing the border to pick him up.

No newspaper seemed to question how they could prosecute the alleged mastermind Toby, who owns the Fisherman’s Café by Lake Mabprachan (not far from where Kenway was murdered) when in fact Thai police had failed to get their hands on the alleged murderers themselves.

In any case we are still waiting.

In the case of the murder suspects, South African Abel Caldeira Bonito, and alleged getaway driver, and Briton Miles Dicken Turner (right), Thai police also announced that they were co-operating with Cambodian police and expected to pick those guys up as well.

This was denied officially from Phnom Penh where police there said there had been no request.

And earlier this week the Cambodia Daily quoted Kem Sarin, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry’s immigration department saying he had not heard of Mr. Nelham’s arrest and Chuon Narin, Preah Sihanouk provincial police chief, also said there had been no arrests fitting the description of Mr. Nelham.

Thai Police of course have a zero-track record for prosecuting foreign boiler room fraudsters, despite much published raids on ‘rooms’ in Bangkok.  The raids began in 2001 with swoops on the Briton Group, and FCI among others.  

Boiler room scammers keeping their heads down during the raid on the Brinton Group at Bangkok City Tower

There were a few deportations of the soldiers manning the phones, but many were back on the next plane.  Boiler rooms then began to move out of office blocks and into apartment blocks and private houses.

It may be a cynical view but any Thai police seeking to arrest Nelhams might be wanting to do so for other purposes than justice and here the glitter of gold cannot be ruled out.

As they have the two suspects on CCTV carrying out the hit and their details on a motor-cycle hire agreement one might think this case was almost open and shut.  

But to come to that conclusion one would have to ignore the oft repeated adage ‘There is nothing under the sun the Thai police cannot do.’


This is generally accepted, much to police chagrin, as not so much a tribute to their skills, but to less orthodox police methods and how bad they can get. 

The combined police forces of both countries seem to have lost both the ‘suspects’, and ‘the mastermind’.

Of course, that may not be case. They could all be on holiday together. And as Kenway promised through perhaps his hero Leonardo di Caprio in 'Wolf of Wall Street'.  'Be patient. So much more is coming'.








Tony Kenway posted a picture of himself being blessed by Thailand’s current King and had links to local influential Thais.

His Facebook page has recently taken a bit of a beating and is a shadow of its former self, as friends who posted there have been quick to delete.

The picture here was taken while the King was Crown Prince and still with his former wife Srirasmi, whom he subsquently stripped of her Royal titles together with her relatives in the Central Investigation Bureau and CSD, at least one of whom was known to benefit from boiler room largesse.

But that one, Police Colonel Akkharawut Limrat took a dive from a high building in the middle of the investigation.

I do not think that was because the Crown Prince was angry at his corruption. Or that the Colonel had requested to interview me in connection with my knowledge of Bangkok boiler rooms just weeks before.

For want of repetition, the last boiler room murder police investigated was that of Ian Travis, 42, a room leader, who had decided to go it alone and split up from Foreign Currency International run by American James Muller.

Travis was gunned down in Sukhumvit Soi 8 in Bangkok and in 2003 after fleeing to the United States Muller was extradited back to Thailand on conspiracy to murder charges which were subsequently thrown out as were the charges against the other conspirators.

Muller and wife inset. Police reconstuctr Travis murder with gunman


I may have to watch my ps and qs here. I see national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda has ordered his legal affairs department to investigate alleged defamatory remarks about police.

The remarks were made at a forum at the Queen Sirikit Exhibition Centre in Bangkok organised by the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand to discuss the topic “What’s the point of having Thai Police?” 
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BBC South East Asia Correspondent gated by Thai court

February 17, 2017, 4:52 pm
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Judges in Phuket, dubbed this week as the most corrupt place in Thailand by the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, have ruled that BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head, cannot travel around the region on news assignments without first seeking the courts permission – and paying more cash.

In a case brought by a lawyer on the island judges said they did not believe it was a great inconvenience to Jonathan. They withdrew Jonathan's passport.

The case has taken over a year to be accepted. 

Already the Phuket Court had spent years deliberating in a case brought against Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathien of Phuketwan by naval officer on behalf of the Thai Navy. In that case the court finally ruled that the case was an abuse of the Computer Crime Act (Libel) and not what the act was intended for.

Their story using Reuters copy suggested that the Thai Navy were involved atrocities against the Rohingya. This was after the navy itself released footage of the navy pushing Rohingyas out to sea.




But the judges could have decided that BEFORE accepting the case – as they could have in the case of the Jonathan Head-Ian Rance spat with the humiliated lawyer, who admitted on camera that he witnessed a forged signature. 


This allowed Rance to be removed as Director thus preventing him suing as Director to protect the land and start proceedings in the courts on behalf of his company to recover assets that had been stolen by the fraudster and sold on to money lenders who later mortgaged to a Thai Bank to launder the money. 



Jonathan with the Thai lawyer who lost face when caught up in a fraud


But under Thai law the defence is not entitled to call witnesses before a case is accepted. 

Jonathan Head wrote on his Facebook: 


“Spent the whole day in court in Phuket processing bail for myself and Ian Rance for our upcoming trial on criminal defamation and computer crimes act charges. We have been charged for reporting on the BBC wrongdoing by a lawyer which he freely admits - notarising a fake signature which led to Ian being fraudulently stripped of control of his company. The court also confiscated my passport and banned me from leaving Thailand. Two petitions by our lawyers arguing that my job requires me to travel at short notice were rejected by the judge, who stated that having to request permission a week in advance and fly down to Phuket every time to retrieve my passport - if they grant the travel request - was no great inconvenience. So I guess for the duration of the trial - possibly two years - I will downgrade myself from SE Asia Correspondent to Thailand correspondent.”
Irishman Colin Vard, who was robbed of seven properties in Phuket after his lawyer also forged signatures wrote that the foreign media failed to fully detail what was really going on Phuket such as the intimidation and threats to life, limb and anybody who dares to assist the foreign victims. 

“The truth of what is really happening is being obscured. It is sad that foreign journalists and the media organisations they work for ignore the basic principles of journalism and bow down to this intimidation and edit the truth. It is like sportsmen refusing to compete when they feel that they are likely to lose. There are no rewards for cowardice.”




COMMENT:

Jonathan’s report on the victims of massive frauds in Phuket on Vard and Rance, was a departure from the norm. While I first reported on the Vard case many years ago, I understand the BBC took some convincing to give it air time.  In fact, it was finally broadcast on the BBC2 mid-morning programme Victoria Derbyshire. 


Ian Rance and his children. A Thai ordeal

Indicative of how justice progresses in Thailand is the fact that Colin's daughter Jessie in the photo above taken when I wrote the first story is now continuing the campaign for justice while earning cash as a model! (below) And the case has not moved one inch despite promises from the Chief of Police in Bangkok.





There has been long term resistance from UK editors to publish stories about British victims of corruption along the lines ‘Well they went to live in Thailand, what did they expect?’

That is also reflected in the attitude of foreign embassies to foreign victims of crime.


Having broadcast the segment, it would be cowardice if the BBC backed down, something for which it is not entirely unknown, something I witnessed when I was a researcher on the Panorama programme ‘Maggie’s Militant Tendency’ and more recently when the Beeb shelved a Panorama programme on the Harlequin Property Group, which was active in the Caribbean and Pattaya and consumed some £600 million of UK citizens’ retirement cash.

One plus is that because Jonathan has a higher profile the case will focus the world on how primitive the Thai legal system which is as they say in Scotland ‘All fur coat and nae knickers’.

While Thailand is a delightful place to live if you keep your head down, especially on a western salary (and that has been the reason why most correspondents, myself included, stay so long) there is something terribly repetitive about 'foreign' news in this country.

Put it this way the most of the major stories I covered in 30 years involved, human trafficking, labour abuse, abuse of ‘immigrants’, foreign mainly British crooks, the shooting of demonstrators, police and army corruption, the corrupt army allegedly saving the country from corruption, crooked judges, unusually rich politicians, and gobsmackingly unbelievable murders by monks and policeman, and zzzzzz - underwater weddings.

Well actually I did not do underwater weddings, but you can see the pattern.

Best of luck to Jonathan. If he wins and I were the fat controller I would send him to Washington.  No, I think I’d send him now. Why should the BBC defer to the Thai justice system? It's beyond a joke.

Alternatively he could stroll across the border and find out why Brit boiler room boys are shooting each other.

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ESSEX PROPERTY MAN IN PATTAYA PROJECTS - CHARGED BY SERIOUS FRAUD OFFICE

February 20, 2017, 5:32 pm
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David Ames the boss of Harlequin Property and associated companies, who has alleged defrauded victims out of several hundred million pounds has been charged with three counts of fraud.


Ames, a former bankrupt double glazing salesman from Essex, UK, has been exposed multiple times on this site for his duff projects on the eastern seaboard, as has the man who took over his Thai operation Richard Haughton and Niels Colov, who promoted his projects and got a house in lieu of promotional fees.

The charges are however believed to relate to his projects in the Caribbean.

Colov 'the cop'.


The Serious Fraud Office which has brought the charges issued the following statement:

The SFO has today charged David Ames, chairman of the Harlequin Group of companies, with three counts of Fraud by Abuse of Position, contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006. 
The alleged activity occurred between January 2010 and June 2015. 
David Ames, 65, from Wickford, Essex, has been requisitioned to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 22 March 2017. 
The SFO, together with Essex Police, announced it was investigating the Harlequin Group of companies on 5 March 2013. This investigation continues. 
Harlequin investors who invested via a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) following advice from an Independent Financial Advisor firm which is no longer trading, may be entitled to compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”). Further details can be found on FSCS’s website.

Ames also faces arrest in the Caribbean. A warrant has been issued after he failed to appear before magistrates on charges of tax evasion and theft. Ames was due to appear at Kingstown Magistrates Court in Saint Vincent last June to answer four charges of theft and four charges of tax evasion, but he failed to turn up at court when summoned.

The charges, brought by the government of Saint Vincent, where his company and its flagship hotel Buccament Bay are based – amount to approximately £2 million, or $7 million East Caribbean dollars. The theft charges relate to the equivalent of around £964,000. (source. The Claims Bureau).

The news this week is not entirely one for celebration. Ames and his cohorts have swindled Britons, many of them pensioners, out of at least £300 million, but that figure has been quoted as high as £600m.  Most of the cash has been spent.

The Serious Fraud Squad appears to be only investigated people defrauded between 2010 and 2015.

“The business activity of the Harlequin Group includes the marketing, sale and construction of luxury off-plan property developments in the Caribbean and other resort locations. 
The SFO would like to thank investors who completed a questionnaire. The online questionnaire is no longer available, however, investors who made investments during the period of January 2010 to June 2015 can register their details with the SFO at hlminvestors@sfo.gsi.gov.uk. If you have any concerns about communicating via email, please write to the following address: 
The Witness / Victim Care Officer (HLM01), Serious Fraud Office, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London”
On this site we exposed the activities of Harlequin (Thailand) on Thailand’s eastern seaboard many times.

Richard Haughton
The company was taken over by Richard Haughton, of TMPE, a former President of The Rotary Club of Pattaya and Jomtien and promoted heavily by Niels Colov, a former Danish underworld figure, who rose to chief of Pattaya Foreign Police Volunteers, publisher of the Pattaya People Media Group, and who too was a past President of the Rotary Club Pattaya-Jomtien.


One of the projects was Emerald Palace in Pattaya. Haughton sold the properties twice, first to punters and then to the Kasikorn Bank for a 70-million-baht loan. Since we took up the case several buyers have won their cases in the civil courts. But they are still awaiting return of their investment.

The BBC pulled an investigation into Harlequin by a team on their flagship documentary affairs programme after a producer suggested to a security man working for Ames that he would be better off working for the BBC.  The BBC Board decided that that was an inducement.





LINKS

Daily Express
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/768822/Harlequin-Property-David-Ames-Caribbean-fraud-Serious-Fraud-Office-Pat-Cash
Serious Fraud Office
https://www.sfo.gov.uk/2017/02/17/sfo-charges-david-ames-harlequin-group/
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PROSTITUTES IN THAILAND! DO YOU BELIEVE THE FOREIGN MEDIA? - THAI PRIME MINISTER

February 23, 2017, 6:31 pm
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Thailand’s military Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-Ocha has raged at the Thai media after a story in the Daily Mirror (London) described the Thai resort as the ‘world’s sex capital’.

And he told local media in Thailand not to highlight the issue due to ‘risk of tarnishing the country’s image’ reported Prachathai News in Bangkok.


From the Mirror

And he told them that the Thai media should not believe a story written by foreigners.

The Daily Mirror published a story on February 16th headed: “Inside the world's sex capital: City dubbed 'modern day Sodom and Gomorrah' with highest number of prostitutes anywhere.”




There was nothing new in the story, which also stated that 27,000 prostitutes plied their trade in the city.



But it gave the newspaper an opportunity to publish numerous pictures of Thai prostitutes, well,  plying their trade, which I guess might have cheered Mirror readers up on a grey drizzly day. It however was not billed as a ‘Reader Service’.



Prime Minister Prayuth (above) then announced he would clear out Thailand’s prostitutes.


 “You’re the Thai media. Do you believe them? (the foreign medias) Do the authorities arrest [prostitutes]? Yes, they do. I will order the police to clear them out. And let’s see if there will be any trouble. I don’t support prostitution. I follow the law,” said Prayuth. “Instead of improving Thailand’s image, you [media] just keep blaming the government. Why? I don’t get it.”

The Thai media probably do believe the foreign media in this instance. Thai Police of course rarely arrest prostitutes for prostitution. When they do it is usually to shake them down for money. 

Prayuth's promise to seemingly end the country's sex trade, a trade which is known worldwide, is unconvincing. 

This promise has been made regularly and the trade grows every year. 


But General Chan-Ocha is not alone in issuing false news from the top in Thailand. If Thai Prime Ministers attracted the same scrutiny as Donald Trump the world media would have a veritable field day.
Thai Premiers are renowned for their denials of everything from human trafficking to bird flu.

General Prayuth is currently issuing legislation to ensure all journalists are licenced and only issued a licence after they pass one of his prepared courses.

Prayuth is known for some classic faux pas. After the murder of Britons Hannah Witheridge and Ian Miller on the island of Koh Tao he stated: 

"There are always problems with tourist safety...They think our country is beautiful and is safe so they can do whatever they want, they wear bikinis and walk everywhere.... Can they be safe in bikinis...unless they are not beautiful?"

Two Burmese migrant workers have been sentenced to death for the crime, but it is popularly believed that they are scapegoats and were framed to avoid blame being attached to Thai culprits.




Prayuth promotes Thainess and encourages modesty, and during the annual water-throwing holiday of Songkran had urged Thai women to dress modestly because:


 ‘Women are like candies or desserts which should be wrapped nicely because people will not buy unwrapped candies or desserts.”

He appears to be against equality for women and in 2015 was quoted as saying: 


"Everybody's saying that we should create equality, women and men should have the same rights, should be able to do the same good and bad things—if that's the case, if that's how you think, Thai society will deteriorate!"

Chan-Ocha had personally told journalists not to report negatively on the Thai fishing industry which has been accused of the widespread abuse and trafficking and even murder of migrant labour merely to avoid paying. 

And he has warned that if any news reports cause Thailand's seafood industry to lose customers, "the people who published the news must be held responsible.”

Of Thais, he said:

 “The charm of the Thai people is that they look lovely even when they do nothing, because they have smiles.” 

That's all and well, but a Thai smile does not necessarily denote happiness. His continual reference to Thainess appears to translate that people should follow his orders and not rise up or criticise those in power, who are the reason for their poverty in the first place.

Addressing his middle-class supporters, he said: it was “up to the middle class to swarm to the polls and defeat the poor who are just after government handouts.”

Possibly the main reason why there are so many prostitutes in Thailand is that successive governments have kept the poor in place, and prostitutes can earn more in a few days in Pattaya than during the rice harvesting season in the north and north eastern regions where their families are.

Mirror readers can take heart that there will be no serious crackdown on prostitution and newspapers will be able to continue to report as they do annually on Thailand’s sex trade, not because they have been ordered to but because it sells newspapers.

What inspired the Mirror photo feature? It seems to be the video story of a 62-year-old Brit being caught by police in the company of a prostitute in a 'short time room' above a bar - a story the Mirror also covered.




All commercial sex enterprises in Pattaya pay monthly payments not only to the police in Pattaya but also at regional and central level in Bangkok.

Links
Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/inside-worlds-sex-capital-city-9834233?service=responsive

Prachathai http://prachatai.com/journal/2017/02/70207

Footote: The Mirror pictures by the way were from the same set from which the Daily Star published a similar account when the bars returned to normal two weeks after the death of the late King under the headline ;Inside the X-rated world of Pattaya Bars;.

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THAILAND'S LEGAL BLOOD SPORT AND A BBC CORRESPONDENT

February 24, 2017, 6:59 pm
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BUT THIS CASE CANNOT BE SETTLED 'FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL' 

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand have issued a statement in support of BBC correspondent Jonathan Head, a former President, who faces jail together with a Briton Ian Rance, one of many people defrauded out of properties on the Thai island of Phuket.

The statement, which is not a strong as one issued by Human Rights Watch, and was composed by a committee fearful of prosecution itself, is as follows:


“Due to laws in Thailand relating to contempt of court, the professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents' Club is constrained in what can be said concerning criminal charges for defamation brought against BBC correspondent Jonathan Head, which are being tested in a Thai court at taxpayer's expense. 
This is an important case that merits the broadest attention. It tests the legal limits of how much a journalist can report in what he/she genuinely believes to be the public interest without fear of legal redress.  
Of broader significance, it shines a light on how notarized signatures are sometimes used in Thailand on important documents, such as title deeds, shares, wills, company directorships, and so forth. This is therefore a case of considerable concern to everybody living in the country, not just foreign residents and investors.  
We hope that this matter can be brought to a quick, unambiguous, and just conclusion for the benefit of allconcerned.* 
It should be noted that Jonathan Head serves as chairman of the professional committee of the FCCT, and has recused himself from this statement.”
In fact, many cases before have already ‘tested the legal limit’ of how much a reporter can report in the public interest in Thailand and already established that the answer is very little.

The ‘broader significance’ paragraph has been added to appease and there is no way this case is going to be for the benefit of anyone - let alone all. Even if he wins Jonathan will never recoup losses which will take many forms.

The current government has made it clear that the current Computer Crime Act laws is useful tool which it will not easily discard. 

Pretty much all cases brought against journalists in Thailand would not stand any scrutiny in a western court.  In Jonathan Head’s case the plaintiff authorises a forged signature, which was then used to remove a British citizen from a company owning properties in Thailand. 

The lawyer says he has been exposed to ridicule and hate but what he did, he claims, was ‘accepted practice’.  

Headline from UK Press Gazette during my cases.  The support from HM Ambassador was more of a 'moral' type and done through the European Union,


Perhaps the Thai Law Society can comment on that. The whole point of witnessing a signature is to verify independently that the person signing the signature is the same person whose signature it is!

Thai Criminal Law S.269: 'Whoever, in the pursuance of work in medicine, law, accountancy or other profession, making the certification of false document by the manner likely to cause injury to the other person or the public, shall be imprisoned not more than two years or fined not more than 4,000 baht, or both. Whoever dishonestly using or citing the certification begotten from the commission of the offence according to the above shall be punished in the same manner.’

What is not clear from news reports is what happens to victims and their families, who fight to get their properties back, like Ian Rance (above) and are then charged under the Computer Crimes Act. 

They are in life threatening situations facing threats by people who have not only lost face but cash obtained through the proceeds of fraud.

Anyway, Human Rights Watch have been more forthright:

“This is the kind of case that shows exactly why having criminal defamation laws is such a bad idea. The threat to lock someone away for what they said, or in this case, reported in the media is far too easily abused by those with time and money to engage in game of legal blood sport by dragging people through the Thai court system,” HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said in a statement. 

“Thailand should also move to immediately revise the Computer Crimes Act to bring it into compliance with the government’s obligations to protect freedom of expression under the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights that Thailand has ratified.”



ps: Of course, I reckon the Jonathan Head case, while absurd, has not a patch on multiple cases brought against me by two criminals convicted of extortion, and posing as a lawyer to defraud, who have now simply escaped the Thai justice system by leaving the country while appealing jail sentences, but not before frightening the life out of the FCCT.

LINKS: 

MOST SUED JOURNALIST IN LIVING HISTORY

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/british-thailand-correspondent-faces-financial-ruin-after-becoming-most-sued-journalist-in-the-world

http://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/journalist-plea-02232017165205.html

Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/23/bbc-journalist-faces-defamation-charge-in-thailand


Footnote:  For the benefit of all. In Thai 'pon prayote'.

The last time I heard this expression in Thailand was when the owner of a long-necked camp in Thaton (also a newspaper publisher) was being prosecuted for human trafficking and holding long-necked families against their own will - in a tourist human zoo.  "I don't care. Its for the benefit of all," he said, meaning everybody in the community benefited, police, local officials and local businesses.  He was right. He was quietly acquitted.

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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OPENS MURDER ENQUIRY AFTER COVER-UP EXPOSED ON THIS SITE

February 25, 2017, 6:59 pm
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Saturday, February 25, 2017
OFFICIALS TO PROBE MULTIPLE SHOOTING ON 
CP FISH FARM

FAMILY, GERMAN BREWMASTER AND POLICE TO BE QUESTIONED


The Thai National Human Rights Commission has begun a formal investigation into a murder in the Thai province of Chaiyaphum, the cover-up of which was exposed on this website.



The TNHCR has appointed lawyers and investigators and will shortly by summonsing members of the police team and two of the local suspects, who were mysteriously released two days into the failed police investigation four years ago.


Jawad and Vanida

The investigation was ripe for a cover-up. The victim was Jawad Khan, a Pakistani national, and husband of Thai returnee Vanida Boongeon, who had recently returned from the United States, where she has two daughters by a former American husband – an airman in the Vietnam war.

The couple had bought a fish farm in Baan Non Leum, in Amphur Mueang Chaiyaphum, which had become one of the highest producers of tilapia fish for the CP conglomerate.




Neither the United States Embassy of the Pakistani Embassy were helpful in pushing for an investigation, said Vanida Boongeon.

Jawad was shot at his house on the fish farm on November 20th 2013 and a subsequent police report stated that he had been shot while in his bed through a window.  They closed their investigation into two suspects, Vanida’s elder brother, and a German national Uwe Seliger, a master brewer. 


The house at the fish farm - shots in the dark

The file they sent to the prosecutor was of no use for a prosecution.

Closer examination of the evidence, which was covered up, showed up DNA blood samples of the victim and Vanida’s brother Thongpun Boongeon.


Chaiyaphum Police at the house

Further, Jawad Khan appeared to not have been shot in his bedroom, where there was little evidence of blood, but in front of the house where there was a mass of blood and evidence of s struggle. 


Three bullets but little blood in bedroom

Suppressed documents show that two guns were involved. 


Pic - Chaiyaphum Police station
But now TNHRC officials say they can show from bullet evidence, which had been covered up, that three guns were involved.   TNHCR will call Wanna Peuleung and her husband Kompong Peuluang, Vanida’s sister and brother-in-law, as well as her brother Thongpun.

They will also issue specific orders to the Chief of Chaiyaphum Police at the time, and the investigating officers, all of whom have been transferred elsewhere.



A request to interview Uwe Seliger from Leipzig who is still reported to be in the country will be made later. It is not believed he was physically involved in the commission of the killing, but may have been the commissioner. 


Pic: Seliger with Thai bride 'Goy' who turned him down on the wedding night

Seliger had bought a Thai bride for 170,000 baht which he paid in ‘sin sot’ or dowry. But his bride ‘Goy’ who had been chaperoned up until the time of the wedding, refused to go through with the honeymoon.

He was furious and blamed Vanida and Jawad who had made the introduction, demanding his money back.  

On the day of the murder Vanida said she received a series of hysterical text messages while rushing north from Bangkok, which she said came from Seliger’s phone announcing the ‘Tawad’ had been murdered and insinuating she was next if she did not pay up.  Vanida said Seliger always got her husband’s name wrong.





Seliger's (alleged) texted bills to Vanida included a bill for the Goy marriage and a fee to 'Hells Angels'.


The powers of the Department of Special Investigations and Human Rights Commission have been curtailed under the present military government. 





Moreover, in the case of the murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and Ian Miller on Koh Tao in 2014 when the TNHCR summonsed police officers to answer allegations that they tortured Burmese suspects Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin, who were later convicted, they simply refused to answer.

At the time, however the government was anxious that the Burmese be convicted and the controversy brought to a speedy end. 

In this case the Thai government has approved the investigation and is paying for the costs, whereas Vanida had previously been advised that she would have to bear all costs herself.


Said Vanida Boongeon today: “I am still scared for my life. I must go to Chaiyaphum where there is real danger because a lot of people do not wish this investigation to go ahead. I need support or I will be killed for sure.”

'MURDER SHE SAID'
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2015/01/murder-she-said-hell-angells-child.html

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2015/11/a-fishy-smell-from-chaiyaphum.html



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DRAFT LAWS AGAINST TORTURE AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES - THAI GOVERNMENT ASKED

March 2, 2017, 8:49 pm
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 WELL, THEY CAN ONLY ASK

Five legal and human rights organisations have called on the Thai government not to prevaricate against drafting laws allowing prosecutions for torture and enforced disappearances in the country.

This followed a decision by the National Legislative Assembly on February 21st to seen the proposed new law back to the cabinet for another review.

This all may seem a bit academic for a government which can invoke  Section 44 to do whatsoever it likes, nevertheless it remains important to get the laws onto the statute books.

Accusations of torture and enforced disappearances by the authorities in Thailand have been frequent. Invariably they get nowhere.  Army and police have repeatedly been accused of torture.

Not only has not action been taken but often the accusers can find  being prosecuted under the Computer  Crime Act, libel.


And last September Amnesty International had to cancel a press conference in Bangkok tp publicise its latest report on torture in Thailand under the current military led government. Amnesty officials were threatened with arrest.

The report 'Make Him Speak By Tomorrow', detailed 74 cases of alleged torture documented between 2014 and 2015, claiming that abuse has increased since a military coup two years ago granted broad powers to the armed forces.

Abuses were documented against a broad range of alleged victims including suspected insurgents, political opponents, migrants and people detained by police in rural areas.

Some alleged victims claimed they had been subjected to waterboarding, electric shocks to their genitals, various forms of humiliation and in one case  confinement inside a barrel with a venomous giant lizard. Thai authorities denied the allegations.


Here follows the joint statement by, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA), the Community Resources Centre Foundation (CRC), Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) and the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF)


On the promulgation of the Draft Act for the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearances B.E….
As a state party to the UN Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) which has become effective to the country since 1 November 2007 and a state party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance since 9 January 2012, Thailand is obliged to promulgate domestic law to enact clauses provided for in the Conventions. 
Previously, the Ministry of Justice’s Rights and Liberties Protection Department had been making an effort for the enactment of the law. And on 27 December 2016, the Draft Act for the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearances B.E….was approved by the cabinet and was submitted for readings in the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).   
However, on 21 February 2017, the NLA’s Ad Hoc Vetting Committee has decided to send back the draft law to the cabinet for another review. 
 The undersigned request the Thai Government to promptly investigate complaints of torture or enforced disappearance, to guarantee the prevention and promotion of complainants of allegation of torture and or enforced disappearance, and implement domestic law in compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), and Section 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Thailand is a ratifying state party.  
The undersigned rights organisations monitoring situations of torture and enforced disappearance have the following concerns to share;  
According to human rights organizations monitoring situation in the Deep South and the rest of the country which is ruled by the coup-driven military junta, none of the complaints about the acts of torture and enforced disappearance allegedly committed by the government officials have been effectively investigated and no one has been brought to justice as a result of such illegal acts.  
There have been a few cases that the victims have to seek judicial recourse by themselves and have eventually been awarded some compensation. 
Criminal liability has, however, not been realized due to legal and practical obstacles including a lack of specific law to criminalize both the acts of torture and enforced disappearance, a lack of impartiality of the authorities which have the powers to carry out the investigation or inquiry into the alleged offences committed by influential officials or committed at the instructions or acquiescence of the commanding officials. 
This has also become a hindrance to access to incriminating evidence and in certain cases; relatives or family members of the victims of enforced disappearance have been deprived of the legal standing and unable to bring the case against the perpetrators including the criminal cases against the accused who are military officials. 
They have also been barred from becoming co-plaintiffs in such criminal suits or in the cases tried in the Military Court.  
There have been reports that intimidation has been made by the alleged officials against the persons complaining about torture or they have been taken to court for making such complaints. 
This has happened in cases including the alleged torture against Imam Yapha Kaseng, the enforced disappearance of Somchai Neelapaijit and Pholachi Rakchongcharoen (aka ‘Billy’) as a result of which none of the perpetrators in these cases have been brought to justice.   
2. In particular, after the 22 May 2014 coup, military authorities have been bestowed with power to hold in custody a person without charges for not more than seven days while not disclosing their whereabouts and denying their access to lawyers or relatives. Such power is made possible by invoking Martial Law and the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Orders No. 3/2558 and 13/2559 issued by the virtue of Section 44 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (Interim), B.E. 2557 (2014). 
Such legal frameworks have subject people to vulnerabilities including the chance to suffer torture and enforced disappearance. Worse, Section 44 justifies the acts of the officials by providing that their acts shall be recognized as lawful, constitutional and final and it has given rise to impunity.   
3.The undersigned human rights organizations are, therefore, gravely concerned about the violations of the obligations per the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which provides that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. 
Apart from not having domestic laws in place to effectively ensure the victims and their families access to the remedies, now there have been increasing legal actions taken against those who dare to complain about the alleged torture and the ongoing impunity of the perpetrators as a result of a lack of domestic laws to enable the provisions included in both the Conventions and how the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (Interim), B.E. 2557 (2014) continues to justify the illegal acts.   
The undersigned human rights organizations demand that the Thai government endeavour to expedite the effort to promptly ensure effective investigation of complaints about the acts of torture or enforced disappearance, effective protection of those complaining about the acts of torture or enforced disappearance and the promulgation of domestic laws to enable provisions of the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)’s Article 7 to which Thailand is a state party. 

With respect in people’s rights and liberties

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