The military in Myanmar have cracked down on people buying and selling condominiums in Thailand, following news that Myanmar citizens were the second largest group of foreign buyers in Thailand in the first quarter of this year, a report by Irrawaddy on Tuesday said, adding that four people had been arrested and a fifth was being hunted.
Two of those arrested were men who held expos at the Sedona Hotel in Yangon to sell Thai condos “without the permission of relevant authorities,” it said, adding that the pair had transferred payments from buyers to Thailand via illegal channels like the [underground] hundi cross-border transaction method.
It said the crackdown “is part of the junta’s increasingly desperate attempt to prevent currency from flowing out of the country to prevent financial collapse,” and followed a fall by the Myanmar kyat to an all-time low of 5,020 to the US dollar last week. It said the junta was blaming citizens for the regime’s economic and financial mismanagement.
The Bangkok Post reported late last month that buyers from Myanmar were looking for “a safe zone” because of the country’s civil war. But Irrawaddy noted that the number may be even higher than local statistics suggest because buyers from Myanmar often purchase property through Thai nominees.
Read the full report: The Irrawaddy.
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