Thursday, January 21, 2010

Surayud ordered to give up contested plot of land


Forest Department rules former premier not qualified to own land in Khao Yai Thiang

The Forestry Department director-general has signed an order for Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont to abandon his land on the Khao Yai Thiang within 30 days because he is not qualified to hold the controversial plot, a source said yesterday.

Meanwhile, a former subordinate of Surayud yesterday stepped forward to deny being involved in any foul play related to the plot of land, on which the ex-premier's vacation home is located, inside the forest reserve in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Surarit Chantarathip, a retired general, said he had passed the land on to Surayud's family as a gesture of gratitude for a friendship that dated back to their military training days.

"I can vouch that I am not Surayud's nominee chosen to grab the land in a wrongful manner," he said.

Hundreds of locals had settled down in the area before Khao Yai Thiang was named a forest reserve, which led to a 1965 Cabinet resolution granting settlement rights to the villagers, though the Forestry Department got retain jurisdiction. The original settlement subsequently grew into two villages that were sanctioned under the local administrative law.

One of the villagers, Bao Sinnok, who was lawfully given the right to settle on the land, later transferred his land deed, known as Phor Bor Tor 5, to a businessman called Noppadon Pitakwanit.

The saga began in 1997, when Noppadon - faced with insolvency due to the financial crisis - put this plot up for sale.

Surarit said upon inspecting the plot he found it barren but with a great view, so he offered Noppadon financial assistance in exchange for the land. He added that amount paid for the plot ought to be revealed by the businessman. The retired general said he had not been in touch with Noppadon for more than 13 years now.

Surarit added that he had sought and received electricity and water supplies, though none of the relevant authorities alerted him to the possibility of forest encroachment.

The plot was in his possession for five years before he transferred it, on concessionaire terms, to Surayud's wife Thanphuying Chitrawadee Chulanont, he said.

He said Surayud and he were lifelong friends since the privy councillor enrolled as upperclassman proctor at the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy. Surarit said Surayud looked after him when he underwent heart bypass surgery and that the two also shared some combat duties. However, Surarit insisted that neither of them had ever been involved in a business scheme or a log-poaching scam that was related to the construction of the vacation home at Khao Yai Thiang.

Even though the red shirts are circulating a taped statement of Noppadon alleging foul play, the authenticity of the tape has not been checked, Surarit warned, adding that the businessman should come forward to clarify his allegations.

Surarit also said that he did not want to speculate why the red shirts wanted to fault him and Surayud.

"All I can say is that people with malicious intent will meet their doom," he said.

In a related development, about 100 red-shirt protesters filed a petition at Government House demanding the speedy enforcement of a law on the controversial plot.

The red shirts also threatened to file a police complaint charging Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of dereliction of duty if he failed to launch legal proceedings against Surayud within seven days.

A red-shirt leader Arisman Pongruangrong said the group would hold its next rally at Khao Soi Dao in Chanthaburi this weekend to expose cases of encroachment there.

In regard to a planned protest at Suvarnabhumi Airport to expose the double standards of law-enforcement authorities, he said the red shirts would not seize the airport or disrupt air traffic.

The rally would last a few hours during which banners, designed to raise the awareness of foreign visitors, would be posted near road ramps leading to and from the airport, he said

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