Cheewapap Cheewatham, former chief of Sirinart Marine National Park and now head of the CSU, confirmed yesterday (September 9) that his unit and the Royal Thai Police had been gathering evidence of encroachment in the Freedom Beach case and also in parts of the former Khao Ruak Khao Muang park, a precursor of Sirinart Park.
The unit was expected to present the cases to the authorities this week.
The Freedom Beach case has been under investigation for years and in 2012 the CSU reported its suspicions to the Land Department in a bid to stop the land title upgrade to Chanote on the grounds that the land was part of national forest in the Nakkerd Hills.
The CSU unit said two Royal Forestry Department officials and five Land Office officials involved in this case "will be punished according to the law".
As for the forest area in the former Khao Ruak Khao Muang Park, a special unit is investigating requests to upgrade three SorKor1 papers to Chanote.
Investigators believe that corruption is involved because all three plots are over 100 rai, and this size for a SorKor 1 plot is unheard of. They believe that the same seven corrupt officials are involved in this case.