Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont is refusing to give up his land at Khao Yai Thiang until he is required to do so by a Royal Forest Department ruling.
The former prime minister has also shrugged off red shirt demands for him to resign his position as privy councillor.
Gen Surayud yesterday spoke publicly for the first time since the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship staged a rally in front of his holiday home in Nakhon Ratchasima on Sunday and Monday, saying he would not return to his property until the department had decided on its position.
He also repeated his position that he was not aware that he had been occupying the land in Sikhiu district illegally.
"On my part, I will only say that I am ready to obey the law," Gen Surayud said.
"When the Royal Forest Department makes a ruling, I will be ready to act accordingly."
The land scandal and the demand for his resignation as privy councillor were totally unrelated, he said.
Gen Surayud, who is also chairman of the Foundation for Khao Yai National Park Protection, spoke at a news conference to announce a charity concert to be organised at the national park on Jan 23.
The Royal Forest Department on Monday set up a panel to look into the Surayud case. It set a 60-day deadline for it to come up with a solution.
The solution will be applied to all cases involving the transfer of rights over reserve land to those ineligible.
The panel yesterday pledged to complete its findings within a week after receiving information from the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG).
"We need to look at the details first before deciding on how to process the case," department head Somchai Pienstaporn said.
"Within seven days from receiving the case, we will be able to carry out the process in accordance with the law."
Public prosecutors in Sikhiu district decided in January last year to drop the case against Gen Surayud, deciding he had not been aware he had broken the law when he bought the land.
OAG spokesman Thanapit Moonlapruek said the office had forwarded the guidelines on how to deal with the case to the department last Thursday.
He said he was not sure why the department wanted to go ahead with the matter. The OAG concluded Gen Surayud had not violated the forest reserve law.
It also suggested the land be returned to villagers who had the right to use it but not sell it. But the decision rested with the department, the OAG spokesman said.
Puea Thai Party MP for Nakhon Ratchasima and UDD key member Suporn Atthawong yesterday said authorities should arrest Gen Surayud right away for encroaching on state land because he had clearly committed an offence by building a holiday home on the mountain.
Mr Suporn slammed the department plan to look into the case, calling it a tactic to buy time for the privy councillor.
Senator Rosana Tositrakul, chairwoman of the senate committee on corruption and good governance, urged the public to look into other politicians and public figures who might control state land illegally.
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