Still no sign of Bt16 bn as HK, S'pore deny freezing funds

Earlier this month, AMLO and relevant agencies were asked to find out if the Hong Kong anti-graft agency had frozen Bt16 billion that an anti-corruption group claimed had been transferred by corrupt politicians via the underground banking system, known locally as “poay guan”. 

 

In the press conference, Sihanart said Hong Kong topped the list of destinations for illegal money transfers from Thailand both in terms of frequency and value. 

 

It is believed that illegal transfers via “poay guan” gangs in Asia usually involve Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar and Australia.

 

Between 2008 and 2012, AMLO discovered that there were 14,470 “poay guan” transactions to and from Thailand. During that time, about Bt193 million is said to have arrived in the Kingdom and about Bt345 million is said to have left the country. The money is believed to have come from European cities such as Amsterdam, South European nations like Turkey, from the Middle East like Dubai, South Asia like India as well as China, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong, he said. 

 

However, Sihanart said it was getting difficult to make these illegal money transfers because the laws were getting quite strict. Even moving cash from casinos in Macau was tough, he said.

 

“If there is a lot of illegal money, it will most probably be kept in the form of cash rather than gold because cash is more liquid. Also, gold shops need to report all suspicious transactions to AMLO,” Sihanart said. 

 

“Poay guan” is a financial system used by both legal and illegal businesses to avoid auditing. It is allegedly popular among tourism agencies, black market currency exchange, gold shops and unregistered firms. AMLO working on new rules to cover and regulate these businesses, he said. 

 

Under the “poay guan” system, a middleman is given the cash and the person at the other end can claim this money in exchange for a ticket, he explained. 

 

“During the time of our grandmothers, middlemen carried money for their family in China and charged 5 to 7 per cent in fees. However, ‘poay guan’ is not popular anymore because there are other quicker and less detectable ways of making money transfers nowadays,” Sihanart said. 

 

However, it is believed that this system is still used by migrant workers.

 

There are some 10 “poay guan” gangs in Thailand, with many working out of Yaowarat and Saphan Khwai areas. These gangs usually move the money out of the country as soon as they get it and usually pick up cash delivered by gambling businesses in neighbouring nations in Tak, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Phanom or Nong Khai, he said.

 

Sihanart added that it would be difficult to find out if there were corrupt politicians involved in this case because they must have used nominees to launder the money on their behalf.