BUT THERE'S BETRAYAL IN HIS HOMELAND
If you’ve got it flaunt it and that certainly seems to be true in the case of Norwegian ‘property developer’ Kurt Svendheim whose house, or rather interconnected houses, were raided in Pattaya ten days ago.
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| Pic - Kurt Svendheim outside New Nordic offices |
Inside they found scores of foreigner males partying with Thai women, and seemed to be impressed with the wealth of the owner, who for some odd reason did not seem to get a mention in the local press in which he advertises frequently.
They also found a massive stocks of wine and champagne and every drink under the sun, plus a Porsche, Ferrari and Rolls Royce.
Svendheim, 47, from Haugesund, another pillar of Pattaya’s high society is the boss of New Nordic Property in Pattaya with several projects on the way so to speak. I am somewhat surprised that he is not a local Rotary Club President.
He is much better known in Norway where together with a colleague Geir Underbakke he sold properties in Brazil and Bulgaria to Norwegians and almost took down the Hjemeland Sparekassen (Homeland Bank).
A lot of these properties did not materialise but not only had he taken millions from investors but also some 70 million Norwegian kroner from the bank – about US$8.3 million.
A bank employee Stale Hasle faced the music for that and the Norwegian authorities expressed an interest in getting Svendheim him home to testify as they were unsatisfied with his answers over the phone, but that all seems to have died – or has it?
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| Pic: Stale Halsne |
Stale Halsne was sentenced in Stavanger District Court for misappropriating bank funds. A book was published and the blurb for it says:
The book Betrayal in Hjelmeland is a harrowing account of how a bank's management did everything possible to get press, police and public to believe that they knew nothing about what Ståle Halsne did when he collaborated with Geir Underbakke and Kurt Svendheim and that he intentionally ruined the bank.
Svendheim claimed that the reason his projects went belly up was ‘the recession’ and I have lost count of how many timest hat one has been used.
Thailand is currently undergoing difficult financial times but there was no indication of that at Svendheims's home.
While the Pattaya rags have kept shtum Svendheim did speak to a Thai-Norwegian website to re-assure investors in his properties in Thailand. He is not losing any sleep apparently.
Two of his companies ‘Dream Apartments’ and ‘Holiday Dreams’ have been made bankrupt (Mind you he appears to have 14 assorted companies in this mish mash).
But he says: ‘Thailand Dreams’ and ‘Thailand Dreams III are ‘standing on safe ground’. I guess there is a Thailand II in there somewhere.
That of course has not stopped rumours that he is hopping off to the Philippines where his Chief Operating Office of the New Nordic Group, a real party animal called Remie Sordam, happens to be the de factor boss of the Angeles (yes it had to be another sex resort) Beach Club.
These guys I have say to these guys make planned joint ventures by Niels Colov and Drew Noyes in Pattaya and Angeles City look like child's play.
And investors who lost all in his projects may be a little irritated by his show of wealth.
Meanwhile, according to press reports, the person who took the fall was a woman called Pornchanok Kamphapan. According to Khao Sod:
"She told security officers in the raid that her husband, a foreigner who works at a hotel in Pattaya, actually owns the place and likes to invite his friends to parties at the mansion."
Her husband she said was not present which seems a bit silly as he was throwing the party.
However Customs officers took her into custody (very temporarily I am sure) and estimated that they were owed 1.2 million baht in unpaid taxes - and took the Aston Martin and a good range of booze.
There of course seems to be some mistake here. If what was on show was not taxed then there is something wrong with the tax department's figures.
Expect a Thai solution to this one and of course his current projects will be doing fine....until they are not.
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| Pic: Customs line-up and show part of their haul |
COMMENT: I care not whether Svendheim is a criminal or not under the eyes of the law - whether the authorities are able to put charges against him or not. In my book he is. The fact is that someone has gone down for a deal in which he was the prime mover and here in Thailand he is behaving like a glutton without a care in the world, and that there are real victims out there, says it all.
The recent raid on his premises as usual does not carry with it the hallmarks of professionalism. It just smacks of more gluttony.
No wonder Alan Morison on Phuketwan, who with Chutima Sidasathian, took on the Royal Thai Navy, is now concentrating on crooked property developers and sounding off about 'outrageous criminality' in the property business.
The problem in Thailand is that if foreigners are defrauded the police will not act - not without a large bung or a message from on high.
Who can forget operations for instance like Harlequin Property which took some £600million out of people's pension funds in the UK to invest in properties in the Caribbean and the head of Harlequin (Thailand) Richard Haughton who set up T.P.M.E to carry on in the same way.
The problem in Thailand is that the local media is part and parcel of the problem. They want the cash from the advertising these alleged property. They do not care a monkey's uncle whether the projects advertised will ever be built.
The problem is that in Thailand the banks are never the victims - Often they are in on the scam.
The problem is that nobody seems to get it - because it is 'pon proyote' - for the benefit of all except some sucker near the Arctic with dreams of a holiday home in the tropic.
As a Scot I have an affinity with Norwegians. Not with this guy.
The recent raid on his premises as usual does not carry with it the hallmarks of professionalism. It just smacks of more gluttony.
No wonder Alan Morison on Phuketwan, who with Chutima Sidasathian, took on the Royal Thai Navy, is now concentrating on crooked property developers and sounding off about 'outrageous criminality' in the property business.
The problem in Thailand is that if foreigners are defrauded the police will not act - not without a large bung or a message from on high.
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| Haughton |
The problem in Thailand is that the local media is part and parcel of the problem. They want the cash from the advertising these alleged property. They do not care a monkey's uncle whether the projects advertised will ever be built.
The problem is that in Thailand the banks are never the victims - Often they are in on the scam.
The problem is that nobody seems to get it - because it is 'pon proyote' - for the benefit of all except some sucker near the Arctic with dreams of a holiday home in the tropic.
As a Scot I have an affinity with Norwegians. Not with this guy.