Thailand strips rabbi leader of citizenship over US passport use

Bangkok: Thailand has revoked the citizenship of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, the American-born head of the Chabad movement in the country. The government said he went on travelling on his US passport for years after he became a naturalised Thai.

The Interior Ministry order was signed on Wednesday, October 28, by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who also holds the interior portfolio. It said Kantor had entered and left Australia 16 times on his American nationality, most recently on January 26 this year.

The ministry said this broke a condition Kantor had accepted when he applied to become a Thai citizen.

Knew the condition: Thai authorities

According to the notice, Kantor got Thai nationality through naturalisation under Section 10 of the Nationality Act, 1965. His naturalisation was published in the Royal Gazette on April 11, 2013, and he received his first Thai identity card on May 2 that year.

The travel details came from the Justice Ministry’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI). The order said the DSI had been investigating naturalised foreigners for acts that could affect the country’s security, including its economic and social interests.

The ministry said Kantor had been told of the condition on the day he filed his application. It said his case fell under Section 19(2) of the Act, which lets the government withdraw Thai nationality from a naturalised person if there is evidence that the person still uses their former nationality.

The order added that letting the matter drag on could cause serious harm to the public.

Anutin later defended the decision. He said it was in line with the law and referred questions on further action to officials, The Nation newspaper reported.

Three decades in Thailand

Kantor, widely known as Rabbi Yosef, came to Bangkok in 1993 with his wife and daughter to serve as a community rabbi, according to a Thai Jewish community website cited by local media.

Chabad-Lubavitch is an Orthodox Jewish movement headquartered in New York. In Thailand, its centres serve resident Jews and the large number of Israeli tourists who visit the country.

Gan Chabad under scrutiny

The order comes while a wider government inquiry is under way into Gan Chabad Co Ltd, a company Kantor helped found, and businesses linked to it.

The inquiry began in September over a Jewish cemetery in Samet Tai subdistrict, in Bang Khla district of Chachoengsao province. Officials alleged that burials continued there after the site’s licence had expired. Gan Chabad had acquired the land.

The probe has since spread to land holdings, company structures and the suspected use of Thai nominees to get around foreign ownership rules. The Commerce Ministry, the DSI and the Anti-Money Laundering Office are now involved.

DSI officials searched three places in Bangkok on October 8. At Gan Chabad’s office in Bang Rak, they said, they found records of more than 60 companies registered at a single address, some with common directors or shareholders.

During those searches, Kantor told officials the Chabad Foundation of Thailand carried out religious activities and helped tourists.

Officials have said Gan Chabad’s three authorised directors are Thai citizens, and that the nominee questions relate to other firms and transactions.

No wrongdoing has been established against Kantor or Gan Chabad in those inquiries. The citizenship order does not refer to them.

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