The nine are:
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Phuket Peninsula Co, (owners of the never-opened and recently fire-damaged Peninsula Resort & Spa on Nai Yang Beach), charged with encroachment after the underlying two NorSor 3 Kor papers were found to have been issued illegally.
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La Colline Co, owners of La Colline housing development, prosecuted for encroachment after it was found that the company’s project was being built on an illegally issued NorSor 3 Kor paper. The company was also charged by Cherng Talay Police with encroaching on a further nine rai of the park, which it had cleared for worker accommodation and equipment storage.
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Three Dolphins Co. Seven Chanote deeds and one NorSor 3 Kor found to have been issued illegally. Company charged with encroachment by Cherng Talay police. This case has also been forwarded to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
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Suree Samrit Co and Malaiwana Beach Club Co. Four Chanote papers found to be illegally based on the same SorKor 1 paper. Charged with encroachment.
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Landstate Co, charged with encroachment after four Chanote papers covering a total of 99 rai were found to have been issued illegally.
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Member Co charged with encroachment after a NorSor 3 Kor paper covering two rai, bought from Phuket Peninsula Co, was found to have been issued illegally.
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Andaman White Beach Co, charged with encroachment after 10 Chanote papers covering 96 rai were found to have been issued illegally.
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Phuket Central and City Development Co, prosecuted for encroaching on 2 rai of Sirinart Park with no papers at all. Another prosecution over an illegally-issued Chanote is expected soon.
- Phuket Arcadia Co, prosecuted after a NorSor 3 Kor paper was found to have been issued illegally and was revoked. One Chanote paper was also found to have been issued illegally. Seven more land deeds are still under investigation.
Prosecutions have yet to be brought in the other two cases pinpointed by Mr Damrong’s investigators, But the DNP has not yet given up hope of bringing these, too, to court. These involve Layan Phuket Co (Layan Beach Resort) and Pavilion Beach Resort Co.
It may be hard for the DNP and the police to win the prosecutions against the nine companies. In most if not all cases, the dirty work was not done by the companies – it was done by people a long time ago, sometimes decades, in collusion with corrupt officials.
The current owners, in most cases, bought land that came with what they firmly believed were genuine, valid land certificates, issued by the Land Office.
Certainly, any company that is successfully prosecuted can be expected to launch an appeal to a higher court.
Flurries of lawsuits by current owners can also be expected, not only against previous owners (for knowingly selling them “bad” land) but also against the Land Office, various high-ranking provincial officials who signed off on the land papers, and other departments including the Natural Resources & Environment Department, and even the DNP itself.
Cheewapap Cheewatham told The Phuket News today that prosecutions will also be brought against Land Office officials and other government officials involved in issuing the illegal land papers. These people are currently under investigation, he said.
Prosecutions will also be brought against Land Office officials and other government officials involved in issuing the illegal land papers. These people are currently under investigation, park chief, Cheewapap Cheewatham told The Phuket News today.
The meeting was chaired by Manopat Huamuangkaew, Damrong “the Demolisher” Pidech’s successor as Director of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP).
In the meeting, Mr Manopat listened as Mr Cheewapap and Sunthorn Watcharadilokkul, adviser to the DNP, laid out progress and information about the 11 land plots – totalling about 600 rai – that were targeted during Mr Damrong’s time.
The next stage in the investigation will concentrate on seven land plots totalling around 400 rai at the Istana and Malaiwana property developments.
After this, another 1,000 rai, about which details are still vague, will be investigated.
“In this third stage, we expect to investigate around 1,000 rai, in cooperation with the DSI [Department of Special Investigation],” said Mr Cheewapap.
“This involves land located above Nai Thorn beach, above Layan Beach and near the Imperial Adamas Resort [at Nai Yang Beach].
“If the DSI works with us, I think we will find all the reportedly encroached lands in the Sirinart Park, which we think totals about 3,000 rai,” he added.
“The DSI has special powers to demand immediate access to important documents such as SorKor 1 from the Land Office.
Mr Manopat noted that cooperation with the DSI would make the investigation easier; when the DNP asks the Land Office for papers, the requests are always rejected, on the grounds that releasing land papers to the DNP would affect to the rights and business interests of the land papers’ owners.
“Also, the DSI has specialists in aerial photo interpretation, and law. If we work together the third stage can be done quickly and effectively,” Mr Cheewapap said.
“During the second stage, the DSI will probably help us. However, we are still waiting for aerial photo interpretation.”
The 366 investigation teams that were launched by Mr Damrong were officially terminated yesterday. Instead, investigation and suppression in Phuket will be carried out by officials from the South of Thailand, rather than the entire country.
“We think the 366 teams might be too expensive,” Mr Manopat said, “and the three offices in the South – Region 4 at Surat Thani, Region 5 at Nakorn Si Thammarat and Region 6 at Songkhla have thousands of officers, which will be enough to work on the Phuket investigations.
“The DNP has initially approved a budget of B4 million for these officers’ work on the Sirinart Park investigation.”
After the meeting, the team went to inspect an 82-rai parcel of beachfront land at Nai Yang which is situated inside the Khao Ruag-Khao Muang forest reserve.
This 82-rai parcel will be part of the the third stage of the land probe. The DNP has so far been unable to identify the owner by name.
“We are up against powerful people, politicians and officials who support land cheating,” Mr Manopat said. “The money involved in all this cheating is not many millions – it’s many billions of baht.
“But I am not afraid. We have to protect the forest for future generations,” he said.