The PACC Inspector-General, Pol Col Dutsadee Arayawut, checked four sea-view land sites, all of them believed to have suspect land papers.
The first piece of land was a plot next to the sea at Kalim. Measuring just under three rai, it has been advertised for sale at astonishing B1 billion.
Col Dutsadee said the Sor Kor 1 land paper underlying the ownership claim had to be fake.
“Out investigations have revealed that this land was registered originally as the Kuan Hin Tang Reserved Field For Livestock, with a NorSorLor land paper [a paper designating it as being for public use, and barred from private ownership],” Col Dutsadee said.
The second site was just next to Loch Palm Golf Course. An application was made to upgrade the land from Nor Sor 3 Kor to Chanote but forest officers and surveyors reported the area was too steep to be in private ownership, and advised that it would be illegal to issue a Chanote.
The Phuket Land Office recommended that a decision be delayed until the PACC had visited.
Despite this, one of Phuket's vice governors – who was not identified – approved the issue of the Chanote.
However, the certificate was not signed by the Land Office officials, so the Chanote is not complete. The PACC investigation found that the existing land paper, the Nor Sor 3 Kor, was issued illegally.
The third piece of land, in Nakalay, is another site with a sea view but deemed by the investigators to be too steep to be in private hands. Despite this, it is currently being excavated as the site for a new hotel.
The building permit for the land was approved by an ex-president of OrBorTor Kamala, but without any checks by any land officer. It was also found to have a Chanote paper based on a fake Sor Kor 1.
The last piece of land inspected today was close to the Ayara Kamala Resort on “Millionaires’ Mile” in Kamala. Once again, the site is sea-view and steep but so far is untouched. It is currently awaiting a Chanote paper, based on a Nor Sor 3 Kor that is suspected to be dodgy.
Werachai Tonghom, grandson of the man whose name is on the Sor Kor 1 papers for the Kalim and Nakalay sites, came with the officials, and brought the papers with him.
He insisted that the land papers in his possession did not match or describe either plot.
“This land paper belonged to my grandfather, Kaew Tonghom [who is now dead] but my family have never owned any sea-view land,” he said.
He added that two or three years ago some land agents offered him B2 million for one of the Sor Kor 1, but be suspected they might be up to no good, so he refused to sell.
Col Dutsadee is due to move soon to a new position in the Nacrotics Suppression Bureau. His successor has not yet been named.