This information is for reference only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed lawyer before any transaction.
Anti-Money Laundering Act
Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E. 2542 (1999)
The information is reviewed and updated monthly against official sources.
In short
Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E. 2542 (1999) criminalizes disguising the proceeds of serious crimes and obliges banks, land offices, and real-estate agents to verify customers and report large or suspicious property payments to AMLO, with asset seizure and forfeiture as enforcement tools.
Section 3: Predicate offences and key definitions
Defines the crimes whose proceeds trigger the law: drugs, fraud against the public, embezzlement at financial firms, corruption in office, customs evasion, terrorism, large-scale illegal gambling and others. It also defines a transaction, a suspicious transaction, and property connected with an offence, which tracks tainted funds through any later sale or transfer.
Section 5: What counts as money laundering
Treats as laundering any transfer, receipt, or change of form of criminally derived property aimed at hiding its origin or helping an offender escape punishment, as well as any act designed to disguise the true nature, location, sale, or ownership of such property. This is the core conduct the Act punishes.
Section 13: Bank reporting of large and suspicious transactions
Requires every financial institution to report to AMLO any cash transaction at or above the threshold fixed by Ministerial Regulation, any property transaction at or above its set value, and any suspicious transaction regardless of amount. The institution must also keep supplying further facts that confirm or correct an earlier report.
Section 15: Land Offices report property registrations
Obliges Bangkok, provincial, branch, and district Land Offices to notify AMLO when a registration of rights over immovable property is made without a bank involved and the cash payment exceeds the set threshold, the appraised value exceeds the set amount (inheritance excepted), or the deal looks suspicious. This catches direct buyer-seller property transfers.
Section 16: Real-estate agents and other professions must report
Lists professions that must report cash transactions above the prescribed amount or any suspicious dealing, including brokers and agents buying or selling immovable property, dealers in gems and gold, car traders, investment advisers, antique dealers, and electronic-payment operators. This is why developers and agents scrutinize the source of buyers' funds.
Section 20: Customer identification before a transaction
Requires financial institutions and the listed professions to identify every customer before carrying out a transaction, unless identification was done earlier, with accessible procedures for disabled or incapacitated clients. Identification follows the method set by the Minister, which is the legal basis for know-your-customer checks on property buyers.
Section 20/1: Customer due diligence and risk management
Requires designated firms to adopt a customer acceptance policy and money-laundering risk management, perform due diligence at the first transaction, and review it periodically until the account closes or the relationship ends. Scope follows Ministerial Regulation on customer review and account monitoring, supporting deeper source-of-funds vetting on higher-risk deals.
Section 21: Requesting full facts and recording refusals
Requires a financial institution carrying out a reportable transaction to ask the customer for all relevant facts. If the customer refuses to complete the disclosure form, the institution must record the refusal and report it to AMLO at once. This forces buyers to explain the origin and purpose of substantial funds.
Section 22: Five-year record retention
Requires retention of customer identification records for five years after an account closes or a relationship ends, and of transaction or fact records for five years from when they occurred, unless a competent official directs otherwise. The retention duty also extends to the listed professions, including real-estate agents.
Section 48: Temporary seizure or restraint of assets
Lets the Transaction Committee restrain or seize property for up to ninety days where there is probable cause that it is being transferred, layered, or hidden in connection with an offence; the Secretary-General may act urgently and then report. Anyone with an interest may prove the asset is clean to lift the order.
Section 49: Referral to the prosecutor for forfeiture
Where evidence links an asset to an offence, the Secretary-General forwards the case to the public prosecutor to petition the court for forfeiture to the State without delay. If evidence is thought insufficient, the matter goes back for more information and, if still contested, to an arbitral committee for a binding decision.
Section 51: Court forfeiture to the State
If the court is satisfied that the asset is connected with an offence and an owner's or transferee's claim fails, it orders the asset vested in the State; cash is split between the Fund and the Ministry of Finance. Where the claimant was linked to the offender, the asset is presumed tainted.
Section 50: Protecting bona fide owners and buyers
Lets a person claiming ownership petition the court before a forfeiture order, showing they are the true owner of an unconnected asset, or that they acquired it honestly for value or in good faith. Holders of a vested interest may likewise seek protection as honest, bona fide purchasers, shielding clean buyers.
Section 60: Penalty for money laundering
Sets the core criminal penalty: a person convicted of money laundering faces imprisonment of one to ten years, a fine of twenty thousand to two hundred thousand baht, or both. This underpins the seriousness of moving criminally derived funds through property purchases.
Section 62: Penalties for failing to report or verify
Imposes a fine of up to five hundred thousand baht, plus up to five thousand baht per day until corrected, on anyone who fails to meet the reporting, identification, due diligence, or record-keeping duties. This is the direct compliance pressure that pushes developers and agents to verify funds and file reports.
Section 63: Penalty for false reporting
Punishes anyone who files a report or statement under the reporting and disclosure duties with false assertions or by hiding facts that should be revealed, with imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand baht, or both. This deters fabricated source-of-funds declarations.