The news came at a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall chaired by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew and joined by Prateep Kongsanit, Assistant Secretary-General of the NACC Region 8 Commission, and NACC Phuket Director Suksan Prasara-ae.
The meeting followed site inspections of three mangrove forest areas on Tuesday specifically under investigation for involving corruption. The sites inspected were in Moo 6, Wichit; in Soi Klangthong 1, Wichit; and in Soi Na Saithong 1, Ratsada.
The inspections of the three areas were part of ongoing investigations into whether the encroachment was facilitated by corrupt officials.
People are still occupying the areas, the meeting was told.
Waste is being dumped and a barbed wire fence has been installed to section off land in the Soi Klangthong mangrove area, and residential buildings have been built in the mangrove forest area in Soi Nah Sai Thong 1, Ratsada, the inspections had confirmed.
However, the meeting yesterday was told no concrete information had been uncovered on which to proceed with corruption charges, said an official report of the meeting.
“At the meeting, no clear conclusions could be drawn, but the Governor of Phuket has ordered all involved agencies to find solutions to problems to maximise benefits for the government and help reduce corruption in areas prone to corruption,” the report said.
The investigations began after the Royal Thai Navy began its own investigation into claims of encroachment into a protected mangrove forest area near Klong Mudong in Wichit in May.
The investigatiosn at that time were led by Capt Pratchai Thongrak, Director of the ‘Investigation and News Division Administrative Office’ of the National Marine Interest Center at the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) Third Area Command [3AC], based at Cape Panwa.
Capt Pratchai explained at the time that he had been tasked to conduct the investigation by RTN Third Area Commander Vice Admiral Sompong Nakthong, who had received a formal complaint from local villagers of the Makham Khu (‘Twin Tamarind’) community on April 29.