Ministry files charges over land misuse

Inquiry team finds that businessman lied

 

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry yesterday filed charges against a Koh Samui landlord for alleged illegal occupation of land and forest encroachment on the resort island.

An inquiry team from the ministry found that Suthep Wangdan, an influential businessman on Koh Samui, unlawfully occupied a 49-rai area of prime forest land on Khao Duang Nok mountain, near Samui airport.

Part of the forest has been cleared for road construction and coconut plantations, said Noppadol Pattama, assistant to caretaker Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat.

Mr Noppadol, who submitted documentary evidence on the case to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB)'s natural resources and environmental crime department yesterday, said the ministry had also sent a letter to the Land Department opposing the issuance of the title deed for the land.

The sor khor 1 land occupation paper No. 220 that Mr Suthep presented to land officials to apply for the title deed covers only a four rai land plot, but he lied that it covers up to 49 rai.

The sor khor 1 also belongs to someone else's land plot, said Mr Noppadol.

"More importantly, this land plot is located in the most pristine forest area, which is Koh Samui's sole water catchment area," he said.

The ministry's inquiry team recently asked the Land Department to revoke the title deeds for a 96-rai land plot on the same mountain, also occupied by Mr Suthep, after finding that the land rights document was illegal.

According to the probe result, the sor khor 1 land rights document held by Mr Suthep was for only 26 rai, not 96.

Deputy chief of the Forestry Department Thanee Viriyarattanaporn, chairman of the inquiry panel on Samui land scams, said the Land Department was likely to complete the revocation of Mr Suthep's land ownership documents for the 49-rai and 96-rai land plots on Khao Duang Nok within two months.

"The investigation into forest encroachment and illegal acquirement of land rights papers on Khao Duang Nok has been completed, and now we will focus on investigations into The Peak project on the nearby Khao Dang mountain," said Mr Thanee, referring to an alleged encroachment onto a 451-rai area of forest land by an owner of The Peak properties development project.

Mr Thanee said the Forestry Department had been working on the demarcation of around 23,000 rai of lush forest on Koh Samui to declare it a 1A watershed area, which would be protected under a cabinet resolution on the conservation of water catchment zones.

Pol Maj-Gen Lattasanya Piansomparn, commander of the CIB's natural resources and environmental crime department, said the ministry's investigation team had come up with evidence to prove Mr Suthep's wrongdoings, which violated the Forestry Act, the Land Act, and the Criminal Act for submitting false information to state officials.

Pol Maj-Gen Lattasanya said the CIB would also investigate the link between Mr Suthep and the owner of The Peak project, and bring state officials involved in the illegal issuance of land ownership documents to justice.