Worasak Panthong, the district chief of Mae Sariang, ordered the arrest of a "fake Thai father" at the district office who accepted 2,000 baht per case to falsely register foreign children as Thai nationals to obtain various rights in the country. He admitted to doing this three times. Authorities are intensifying efforts to prosecute accomplices.
On the morning of 21 Oct 2016, Worasak Panthong, district chief of Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son Province, instructed Theptat Komkwanmeua, district clerk of the registration and identification group, to lead a team to arrest Mr. A (alias), 30, a resident of Mae Yuam Subdistrict, Mae Sariang District, at the district registration office. He was found to have falsely registered himself as the father of children born to foreign women without Thai nationality, who were not their biological fathers, in order to unlawfully obtain Thai nationality for the children.
After the arrest, Mr. A confessed that he was not the biological father but was hired by foreign families without Thai nationality for 2,000 baht each time to pose as the father so the children could obtain Thai nationality. Records showed he had falsely registered as father for three foreign children previously, each time receiving 2,000 baht.
Initially, officials charged him with three serious offenses: giving false statements to an official (Section 137), causing an official to record false information in official documents (Section 267), and violations under the Civil Registration Act B.E. 2534 (Section 50). He was handed over to investigators at Mae Sariang Police Station for prosecution.
Simultaneously, Worasak Panthong ordered an expanded investigation to identify accomplices and prosecute the hirers. A thorough review of cases involving illegal birth registrations for children born to foreign mothers and Thai fathers, or Thai mothers and foreign fathers, will be conducted retrospectively.
This aims to eliminate false nationality claims by non-Thai nationals and ensure the integrity of the civil registration system going forward.