limbo Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 Law proposed to seize illegal assets overseas The Justice Ministry will propose for the Cabinet's consideration in mid May a draft legislation to retrieve assets overseas that have been illegally been obtained through corruption. Deputy Permanent Secretary of Justice Tongthong Chandransu said Friday that Thailand is going to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption, therefore it had to survey Thai laws so see if there were any loopholes. Tongthong said the ministry had planned to propose a draft legislation of the retrieval of assets in any country obtained from corruption, and a Criminal Law article 87 amendment to have the statue of limitations scrapped in case the defendant fled. They also planned to amend the laws related to bribery made to foreign officials who came in contact with the Thai government to have the same punishment as bribery made to Thai officials. Tongthong explained the law was aimed at retrieving assets - be it houses, cars or other valuables - that criminals bought with dirty money. If the court ordered the assets to be seized, officials in the country where the illegal assets were held would be required to place them on the market. The proceeds would then be returned to the Thai government, he said. However, the ministry would have to first check with the related international laws such as money laundering, to discover if there was any redundancy or contradiction. He said that draft legislation to retrieve assets aboard was expected to reach the Cabinet by mid May and would be sped up to be in effect within this government's term. The Nation 20/04/07 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 It should be interesting to see any country seize a house that is in another country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted April 20, 2007 Report Share Posted April 20, 2007 It should be interesting to see any country seize a house that is in another country. Why is that? It happens. For instance, check out these points from the UN Convention Against Corruption: [color:blue]Article 31: Each State to take measures to enable tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of proceeds of corruption, and property obtained with such proceeds. Articles 54 and 55: Each State to take measures to provide mutual legal assistance through: â?¢ The enforcement of foreign orders to freeze, seize and confiscate proceeds of corruption, and â?¢ The freezing, seizing and confiscation of proceeds of foreign crimes of corruption through the requested Stateâ??s own civil or criminal processes.[/color] Regards, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 The UN has all sorts of conventions, declarations etc that the UN itself ignores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 I can see this being used to go after Mr. T's offshore assets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 His homes in London and Sydney? p.s. My first thought was that it was aimed at Mr T. Seems obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanddawg1 Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 The UN has all sorts of conventions, declarations etc that the UN itself ignores. A friend of mine did some contract work for the UN during the Balkins conflict. He said he never saw so much corruption!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 I used to have several neighbours who worked for the UN. They told me the UN was one of the most corrupt organisations there is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David99UK Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 International recovery action of ill gotten gains (inclduing through political corruption) is quite a well trodden path. and nothing in practice to do with the UN. Basically "all" Thailand needs is a law that fits in the with the UN / International guidelines so that when they go to a court in another country their claim is at least potentially enforcable and is not automatically struck out. Quite a frequent thing that works for Nigerian politicians, The Brazilian Mayor (of Sao Paulo?) is also on the receiving end as well as a number of Middle Eastern folks and I recall Pakistan. All share one thing, they were out of power or at least out of favour.........cos' until then it's not corruption of course - just business. So no reason why Thailand should not have any success. I wonder who it is aimed at?? :grin: (IMO whilst the laws may come in it will never happen to avoid setting a precednt for the future self interest of those now in power - but is a warning shot accross the bows of Mr T). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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