clubsiam Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 A good friend from Singapore owns a tiny little Taco Shop in Bangkok. Thai Police extorted 30,000 bt yesterday "U r not going 2 believe this. The bloody mafia came in last night 2 my shop & demanded Baht30K. Went down to Lumpini Station….It’s full of crap these bloody thais. They sure spend lots of time creating new laws to get Quick $$$$$ Those Thai Bastards!!! How on earth we end up here. The Thais are killing themselves in this competitive world. Good for them…..Unfortunately I’m here. Sorry have 2 let go my frustration……urg..urg..urg ….BASTARDS!!! CROOKS, CROOKS,CROOKS!!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 What was behind the demand?....and back for more next month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickman Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Many police stations or groups of police are out of control in this country now. They are simply extorting money, threatening dire consequences - loss of freedom, loss of business etc. - to extract large amounts of cash. The problem now is that there are so many stories of this sort of thing out there that the country will suffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imperial Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 how high up in the police do you need to be before they let you extort money ? And do the lower ranks have to share it with the upper ranks ? Are they doing after everyone , say a 7-11 or just certain groups, bars , resturants etc BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 So what law was it they said he had broken to have to pay so much tea money? Is it a law, and did he break it? The problem I see with many small farang businesses is they do not cover their ass and they try to take shortcuts (to save money) and do not ensure they are fully legal and following all the laws, thus leaving themselves open to these extortion schemes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 From what was explained to me, all the cops have to kick a percentage back to their superiors of any graft and tea money they make. Much the same as the mafia does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 The problem I see with many small farang businesses is they do not cover their ass and they try to take shortcuts (to save money) and do not ensure they are fully legal and following all the laws, thus leaving themselves open to these extortion schemes I agree with this, but the other side of this is the thousands of vague and unreasonable Thai laws and regulations that are selectively enforced or open to the "discretion" of the enforcing officer. They create the infrastructure for this sort of extortion. You can see it here on this board. Let me give an example. The DG of the Land Department issues a vague proclamation about nominee ownership. If you take his words literally, any Thai women who purchases land with her foreign husband's money is a nominee. I find this troubling, and ask to see where in Thai law is his concept of "nominee" defined. Never get a straight answer, but I am told that I am being unreasonable, it will never happen, he really didn't mean that, etc. But if you assume he meant what he said, my concerns are entirely reasonable. Two years from now some new DG can point back to the current DG's words and say: "Look, we warned you. You cannot blame us now if we are following through when you were given fair warning two years ago." You can't tell one way or the other if this will happen. But when you get these official announcements that appear to pulled out of thin air, you should and can question it. Where, precisely, is this concept of a "nominee" defined in Thai law? Incidentally, this is not a Farang vs. Thai thing (the hot issue now). Thais are the bigger vicitms of arbitrary decisions and extortion schemes by officials. Its a matter of happening a clear system of rules (laws) so that everyone knows what they are required to do and having a reasonable opportunity to comply with those rules. Thailand doesn't have this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clubsiam Posted July 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 She was playing a CD on her boombox in the restaurant. Taken to Lumpini Station and forced to pay 30,000 bt. No receipt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Was playing a boombox considered illegal? What exactly did she pay the 30K baht for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Clubsiam, thanks for sharing your friends experience, but it would be very useful if a bit more details were available such as exactly which laws was broken those sorts of thing to see what kind of 'extortion' was used & I understood the 'payment' happened down at the station so not exactly looking like 'mafia extortion' is it now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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