Allegedly among the tactics was a threat to have company representatives “taken to a camp in Nakhon Sri Thammarat without a court warrant”.
The alleged tactics were aimed at intimidating the company’s staff amid a dispute launched by specific tenants at The Aspasia residential development in Kata. (See stories here and here.)
The authorised lawyers representing The Breakers Co Ltd, Duensing Kippen, lifted the lid on suspected heavy-handed tactics in a letter issued to tenants last week.
According to a letter, two men presented themselves as military personnel, while in a different episode one man claimed to be an officer with the DSI, Thailand’s equivalent to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The lawyers provided The Phuket News with CCTV video evidence and voice recordings to support the claims.
In one conversation recorded, the men threatened a company representative that the Army would “take them to a camp in Nakhon Sri Thammarat” if power supply was not restored to specific units at the apartment block.
The letter to the tenants noted, “We were informed that if we did not obey, we would be taken to the military camp in Nakhon Sri Thammarat province without court warrant.
“Based on our direct discussion with the vice governor on 7 March 2016, he did confirm that the Governor’s office did not acknowledge such action of the military and it is always a policy of the governor to find solution of dispute by way of mediation and compromising other than assaulting.
“Further, the Governor's office advised that we can file a report with the NCPO (National Council for Peace and Order) about the behaviour of these officers to check if it was lawful action or not.”
However, Vice-Admiral Sayan Prasongsamrej, the Commander of the Royal Thai Navy base in Phuket and the lead ranking military officer on the island, today declined to comment to The Phuket News about military personnel directly involved in the Aspasia dispute.
Further, regarding the suspect DSI investigator, the letter to the tenants explained, “On 24 February 2016, some tenants brought a person to the Aspasia project, introducing himself as a DSI officer and asked us to turn on the electricity that has been suspended due to breach of agreement. He was asked to identify himself by his ID/name card but denied to do so.
“We further investigated with the DSI Head Office in Bangkok to check if such visit is legally correct. The DSI Head Office advised that DSI officers never ‘informally’ visit a place without authorized document/court search warrant. Therefore, they advised us to make an official complaint/police report of this event, since it is possible that a criminal offence under Section 145 of the Thai Criminal Code 1956 was committed.”
To this, DSI Deputy Spokesman Pol Maj Col Worranan Srilum, who is also Director of the Special Cases Management Centre in Bangkok, today also declined to comment to The Phuket News at all on the case.
Jan Cornelis van Zuilkom, presented as the leader of the disgruntled tenants levelling the claims against The Breakers Co Ltd, can be seen clearly in one video as seated as part of the conversation during the visit by the Army personnel.
Despite today answering calls from The Phuket News, Mr van Zuilkom has yet to provide comment on the claims made in the letter issued to the tenants last week.
The letter also explained that power supply was discontinued to only two units at the development, and that was only after the leases had been terminated.
One unit had undergone unapproved construction work, by enclosing the balcony at the property, despite a cease and desist notice issued by the company. The other unit had power supply cut off after breach-of-contract subletting continued, again despite a cease and desist notice.
The letter also urged all tenants to seek legal advice before taking any further action.
“Please rest assured that if there is no breach of the rental agreement, there will be no action taken against a lessee. In case of the on‐going dispute all parties involved should rely on the decision of the Thai court to resolve such matter as also advised by the Vice‐Governor,” it said.
“We would like to give a special thank you to all the tenants that fulfil their obligation under the rental agreement and we promise that we would do our best in providing you the service as stated in the rental agreement as we successfully did during the last 12 years. We highly respect your rights and wish all those tenants an enjoyably and peacefully time in our project.”