Thai govt eyes legal reforms to shield public from pyramid schemes
Many legal loopholes in outdated laws need to be plugged and the entire process will take 3 months, says minister
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said the government is making moves to plug legal loopholes to protect people from get-rich-quick schemes and this process may take up to three months.
The minister was responding to a question raised in Parliament on Monday by Senator Wutthipong Pongsuwan, who asked what the government will do to tackle the issue of so-called pyramid schemes and other businesses that affect the public.
The senator cited the iCon Group as an example of a business that affected the public.
Police arrested 18 iCon Group executives last Wednesday on charges of defrauding the public with their pyramid business disguised as an MLM (multilevel marketing) one.
Julapun said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has assigned relevant government agencies to urgently improve the law to protect the public from being deceived by companies like the iCon Group.
Julapun said the Finance Ministry, the Royal Thai Police, the Justice Ministry and the Consumer Protection Board are cooperating to amend existing legislation to plug loopholes to better protect consumers.
He said several legislations will have to be amended, including the Direct Sales and Direct Marketing Act, the Emergency Decree on Borrowings Regarded as Public Cheating and Fraud (1984), the Consumer Protection Act, the Criminal Code, the Computer and Technology Crimes Act, and the Anti-Corruption Act.
Julapun told the Senate that it was necessary to amend these laws as they are now outdated and that relevant agencies were drafting a bill to amend them.
Once the draft is completed, it will be sent to the Council of State for scrutiny before it goes to the Cabinet for approval and eventually to the House and Senate for deliberations.
Julapun said the entire process could take two or three months.
He also assured the Senate that the legal amendment would allow the authorities to take legal action against alleged wrongdoers at all levels of any alleged pyramid scheme.
The amendment would seek to extend the statute of limitations of such pyramid schemes, increase penalties and allow the Anti-Money Laundering Office to more quickly seize assets of suspects.
He said the amendments may also put the Justice Ministry or DSI in charge of such cases.
