All Phuket Businesses With Expat Shareholders Under Scrutiny
Chutima Sidasathian
Saturday, January 5, 2013
PHUKET: All 2900 businesses on Phuket with foreign shareholders are being examined in a thorough review now being undertaken by the Department of Business Development, Phuketwan has learned.
As much information as the department's Phuket office can make available is being readied this month for presentation to officials from Bangkok from February onward.
The full re-examination of all companies with foreign shareholders on Phuket is expected to run through February and March.
It's not clear whether Bangkok officials will remain on Phuket the whole time. The reason for the review has also yet to be made public.
Nimid Kangkajid, Direct of Business Development on Phuket, revealed the large-scale review was about to begin when Phuketwan made inquiries about the growing interest of Russian-based companies in Phuket.
The Labor Office revealed that Russians had quickly risen to hold second place after Britons in the issuing of work permits for Phuket.
Britons sit at the top of the list with 1121 work permits current for Phuket. However, the number of Russians working on Phuket is increasing rapidly.
A total of 566 work permits were being used by Russians on Phuket in November. This rose substantially to 602 in December, the Labor Office records show.
Most work as managers in tourism-related businesses.
Russian investment on Phuket has been thrust into sharp focus following the blockade by taxi and tuk-tuk drivers this week. They protested outside Karon Police Station at what they claim is loss of business to Russian enterprises.
A meeting yesterday disclosed widespread Russian involvement in other enterprises. Russians owned 20 of the Kata-Karon region's Thai massage salons, the meeting heard.
Earlier in the week, Phuket Provincial Hall officials heard of a Russian attempt to set up a taxi rank in the five-star district of Cherng Talay. Earlier in the year, it was a jet-ski operation at Bang Tao.
Khun Nimid explained yesterday that when Russians registered businesses on Phuket, the difference was that Russian businesses usually included a ''complete cycle'' of all types of operations and outlets within tourism.
No other national group displayed this characteristic of business activities, Khun Nimid said.
A follow-up meeting is to be held on Tuesday so Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak can hear the results of an investigation by a committee into the extent of Russian business operations in the Kata-Karon district.
phuketwan.com