Cempaka Asean: Offshore companies and the boom in villas on Phuket

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.
They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Offshore companies and the boom in villas on Phuket

BVI companies have helped British buyers snap up luxury villas in Thailand – not for tax avoidance, they say, but to avoid Thai curbs on foreign owners

The Guardian, David Leigh, Harold Frayman and James Ball, Tuesday 27 November 2012

Sales of luxury villas in Thailand have boomed, with many British owners using
offshore companies to circumvent Thai foreign ownership laws. Photograph: Alamy

One of the side-effects of Britain's financial bubble was a temporary boom in sales of luxury villas on the island of Phuket in Thailand.

These exotic hideaways had infinity pools, their own gyms and waiting speedboats. They could be rented out for cash when not in use by their owners, and cost anything up to £5m to buy.

Offshore Secrets

Britons commonly bought them through anonymous British Virgin Islands (BVI) offshore companies.

A Bangkok law firm, Limcharoen Hughes and Glanville, employed a couple of expatriate British solicitors and were active with UK clients. When approached by the Guardian, the lawyers denied involvement. Their deputy chief executive officer, Desmond Hughes, said: "Let me categorically correct your assertion that our law firm 'sets up' BVI companies. We do not 'set up' BVI companies." He called this a "fundamental error".

But his denial turned out to be more a matter of semantics. Records show the law firm in fact commissioned a specialist incorporation agency in the BVI on their British clients' behalf, to do the detailed work of setting up a series of such offshore companies.

One of the Britons who buys and develops villas, the former tennis player David Lloyd, pictured right, was willing to explain.

Lloyd, who set up a profitable chain of UK gyms when he retired from sport, says the reason for his two BVI entities, Rise Bright Development and High Joy Group, was not tax avoidance. It was to circumvent Thai laws on land ownership.

"It's purely because in Thailand, you can't own the land if you're a foreigner. What you have to do is form a company to buy the land in which a Thai partner owns 51%. That company then gives a lease of the property to a BVI company which you do own. There are no tax advantages: it is purely because of the restrictions on land ownership".

One buyer, Chris Sharp, a retired London shop-owner, told us he had been advised that his BVI company would also allow him to avoid Thai capital gains tax, if he sold the Phuket villa on.

Another Thai villa owner is Ian Brimecome, the chairman of the Equitable Life insurance company. He and his wife, Charlotte, used an entity called Fortune Green Holdings in the BVI to buy a holiday home after visiting Phuket in 2007.

He told us that another reason why local estate agents and lawyers used offshore companies was to avoid Thai legal problems on inheritance.

"Instead of having to change ownership of the property, you can simply transfer the shares in the existing company to the person who inherits."

The British tax authorities depend on offshore villa owners volunteering the existence of their overseas assets and income.

Brimecome said HMRC had mounted a detailed investigation in 2010 of such Thai villa purchases, and had given him a clean bill of health.

The Guardian/ICIJ Offshore Register: Thailand

Ian & Charlotte Brimecome

Company: Fortune Green Holdings

Chairman of Equitable Life who used offshore entity to buy Phuket villa.

Brimecome, who has a £2m home in Pirbright, Surrey, joined the boards of Equitable Life and Axa in 2007. The same year the Brimecomes visited Phuket, the Thai beach resort, to buy a villa. The BVI company to own it was set up through a local law firm.

Intermediary: Limcharoen Hughes & Glanville, Bangkok.

Brimecome: "The local estate agents and lawyers arrange the sales this way. They say it is less cumbersome than using an on-shore company, and avoids the problems in Thailand of changing the property ownership to your heirs if you die. The shares in the company can simply be transferred instead."

David Lloyd

Company: Rise Bright Development; High Joy Group; David Lloyd Asia Co.

Tennis star turned property developer in Thailand.

Lloyd was Davis Cup captain and formerly coached Tim Henman. He built up a chain of gyms in the UK, sold them and became a resort developer on Phuket in Thailand. He is developing luxury villas at Cape Sawan, to sell between £2m-£5m and set up BVI ownership entities in 2007-8.

Intermediary: Limcharoen, Hughes & Glanville, Bangkok.

Comment: "It's purely because in Thailand, you can't own the land if you're a foreigner. What you have to do is form a company to buy the land in which a Thai partner owns 51%. That company then gives a lease to a BVI company which you do own. There are no tax advantages: it is purely because of the restrictions on land ownership."

Chris Sharp

Company: Charm Nice Group

Retired London shop-owner who bought villa on Phuket.

Sharp listed as retired. Company incorporated 1.11.2007.UK flat in Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN5 4NG, sold for £292,000 in 2009.

Intermediary: Limcharoen, Hughes & Glanville.

Comment: "I retired from running a greeting card shop. I met a lady here. The lawyers advised me to have a BVI company because otherwise, they said, when you sell, the Thais take a lot of tax off you."

Gerry Matthews

Company: Kinetic Country Group

Retired clothing wholesaler who bought villa on Phuket.

BVI company was incorporated in July 2005, to buy a villa at the Cape Yamu development in Phuket, with pools and gyms, developed by Irishman Peter Hamilton. At retirement from his clothing wholesale firm, Smith & Brooks, Matthews owned £3m house in Buckinghamshire.

Intermediary: Campbell Kane, Phuket developers.

Comment: no response to approach.

Michael Macareavey

Company: Add Merit Group

Macareaveyof Aberdeen AB11 7SQ, bought offshore company in 2007, while in Malaysia. Formerly director of MTM Process Engineering Ltd in UK.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Offshore companies and the boom in villas on Phuket

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