UPDATE: Nominee-company probe expands to Sakon Nakhon

Thailand’s Interior Ministry has expanded its investigation into suspected foreign-owned proxy companies to Sakon Nakhon in the Northeast.

Speaking in Sakon Nakhon on 17 August 2026, Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee warned that some foreigners who obtained Thai citizenship may have used that status to establish nominee companies, conceal foreign ownership and acquire land or commercial buildings.

The Interior Ministry has ordered ownership and financial-trail checks on more than 100 Phuket companies suspected of links to foreign nominee networks. The wider investigation covers a list of 361 firms nationwide, according to officials.

Polapee said the practice could represent a developing national security threat affecting Thailand’s economic resources and sovereignty. He made the comments after inspecting Chabad House in Patong.

Preliminary checks found that some people linked to businesses under scrutiny held Thai national identity cards despite being born abroad and having obtained Thai citizenship only in recent years, Polapee said. Officials are examining whether naturalised citizenship was used to disguise foreign ownership rather than to support genuine investment.

Polapee identified three people he said were directors and shareholders linked to The Kosher Place (Thailand) Co Ltd, which operates the Patong premises. He said all three held Thai ID cards but were born abroad, and that two were naturalised on 21 November 2017, when Gen Anupong Paochinda was Interior Minister.

Officials said the company has B30 million in registered capital, is headquartered in Sukhumvit and operates 10 branches. Authorities are checking whether the Thai shareholders are genuine investors or were used to conceal foreign capital.

Chabad administrators disputed parts of Polapee’s account. Patcharee Channatho, a Thai national associated with Chabad House Phuket, said she could not confirm whether the company’s ownership structure amounted to a nominee arrangement. She acknowledged Israeli investment in the business, described The Kosher Place as a family business supplying kosher food to Jewish visitors and denied that it was a front.

The inquiry also covers how some shareholders obtained citizenship, including their paperwork, backgrounds and approval process. Phuket Governor Chotinrin Kerdsum said the nominee investigation and citizenship decisions are separate matters. Phuket authorities can investigate possible nominee arrangements, he said, but citizenship decisions are handled by the central government under the Nationality Act of 1965 and the Department of Provincial Administration.

Chotinrin added that investigations must follow legal procedure and cannot rest on allegations or tip-offs alone. Polapee said suspected nominee structures had also appeared in Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Pha-ngan, Pai and Chiang Mai. The government is considering whether investment and naturalisation laws need to be rewritten to close gaps.

A nominee is a Thai person who appears on company paperwork as an owner while a foreigner actually controls the company and its money. Arrangements of this kind are illegal under the Foreign Business Act for both sides. The law restricts foreign majority ownership in many types of Thai business and generally restricts foreigners from owning land.

Naturalised citizens are legally Thai, so their shares count as Thai shares. Investigators are examining whether that status has been used as a shortcut instead of reflecting genuine investment.

None of the allegations has been tested in court. Being on a list of companies under examination is not a finding of wrongdoing.