637 entities face probe

The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) will investigate whether a total of 637 Thai-related companies and individuals allegedly named in the Panama Papers violated anti-money laundering laws.

Amlo was referring to the findings from a second verification of the Panama Papers, a trove of 11.5 million files that span 40 years, by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The leaked information came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that’s now infamous for helping people hide and protect assets.

After leaking the information about individuals and corporations that might be using foreign shell companies and offshore accounts to keep financial information private, the ICIJ this week released a searchable database of its Panama Papers.

This time, Amlo’s acting secretary-general Pol Col Seehanat Prayoonrat said, the 637 names confirmed to be in the Panama Papers consist of 51 corporations, 203 Thai nationals and 383 foreigners with links to Thailand.

Amlo plans to conduct a probe to find out if these 637 people and corporations violated Thai anti-money laundering laws, said Pol Col Seehanat.

Meanwhile, the names of 16 Thais previously said to be among the names in the Panama Papers don’t exist, he said.