Doing Business in Thailand

One of the advantage of Thailand when entering the bar business is that you will not have to worried about having to buy protection from local mafia in order to run your business, because the police has things under control.

All bar owners will pay a monthly fee to the local police station and in exchange will be able to exercise their businesses nearly hassle free.  The amount of the fees will depend of the type of bar, and of course of whether the bar owner has been able or not to obtain all the licenses and authorization needed to exercise his/her business. It will also depend of whether the bar owner only operate his business within the legal hours or beyond the legal hours as well.

While there will always have well-intentioned souls to complain of Thai police corruption the fact is that this system works quite well and that has a result Thailand is one of the rare countries were bar owners may safely exercises their business without having to worried about being racketed by the local mafia.

Now, many bar owners believe that paying the local police station will grant them full immunity and that they may do whatsoever they want. Nothing is more false than this because the local police is not omnipotent and they are several other police departments that may from time to time raid bars in a determined area. A recent raid on Ratchadapisek road illustrates this fact. This raid was carried out by a combined team from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission. They arrested 83 people under 20 years at the pub, 27 of whom – 13 boys and 14 girls – tested positive for drugs.

Of course all those raids are not successful because there will be time where local police stations will be informed in advance that another police branch is about to read bars in a certain area and they will be able to inform bar owners in advance. But from time to time the police team proceeding with the raid will be able to keep the raid secret until the last minute and this is when you may find yourself in trouble.

About the Author:

The author Rene-Philippe DUBOUT is a lawyer since 1990 when he was admitted to Geneva bar (Switzerland). He practiced as a litigator there for 10 years until he moved to Thailand in 1999. In 2002 he founded with a group of Thai lawyers Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd a local law firm that specialized in Cross Borders Investments and Real Estate. He has been lecturing in several Thai Universities and a speaker to numerous conferences and seminars. He is the author of a must read book:”How to Purchase Real Estate Offshore Safely: The Case of Thailand”.

http//:www.renephilippe.com

© Copyrights 2009 – Rene Philippe Dubout – This article may be reprinted if information about the author, the websites, and the URLs remain intact.

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