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AMLA Section 49 — Forfeiture: referral to the public prosecutor
Anti-Money Laundering Act (พระราชบัญญัติป้องกันและปราบปรามการฟอกเงิน) — Section 49.
Plain-English Summary
Where the evidence makes it believable that property is property connected with an offence, the Secretary-General refers the matter to the public prosecutor, who considers petitioning the court to order the property to vest in the State; court proceedings under this Chapter are filed in the Civil Court (Section 59). If the prosecutor finds the file incomplete it is returned with all deficiencies listed at once. If the prosecutor still declines, the Board decides within 30 days, and if it does not decide in time the prosecutor's view stands. In short, assets tied to a predicate offence can be forfeited to the State by order of the Civil Court, on a petition the public prosecutor files at the Secretary-General's referral (Section 59).
Official Text
Official Thai text at the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State. Translation summary only.
Consult official sourceParent Statute
Anti-Money Laundering Act
พระราชบัญญัติป้องกันและปราบปรามการฟอกเงิน · B.E. 2542 (1999)
The Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E. 2542 (1999) makes money laundering (Section 5) an offence by reference to a list of predicate offences (ความผิดมูลฐาน) in Section 3, and is administered through the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), a government agency established by Section 40. Financial institutions must report cash, high-value and suspicious transactions (Section 13); listed professions and businesses must report cash and suspicious transactions (Section 16); and customer identification and due diligence apply to both groups (Sections 20 and 20/1). Tipping-off is prohibited (Section 21/1, penalty in Section 66). Property connected with an offence can be provisionally seized or frozen (Section 48) and, on the public prosecutor's petition to the Civil Court, forfeited to the State (Sections 49 and 59). The monetary reporting thresholds are set by ministerial regulation, not in the Act. The Act can reach other finance-related businesses through the ministerial-regulation limb of the definition of financial institution in Section 3, limb (6).
The summary above is a plain-English educational paraphrase of Section 49 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. It is not an authoritative translation. For the binding Thai text, consult the Royal Gazette or the Office of the Council of State. Educational use only — not a substitute for advice from a Thai-qualified lawyer.
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