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
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