Suthep’s son faces fresh land plot loss

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has asked land officials to revoke businessman Tan Thaugsuban’s land ownership documents after the Criminal Court found him guilty of illegally acquiring 14 rai of forest on Surat Thani’s Koh Samui.

The DSI will send the Land Department a copy of the court ruling to back its request. Land Department officials have insisted the process to grant land ownership documents for the 14-rai plot to Mr Tan was legal, Pol Lt Col Prawut Wongsinil, head of the DSI’s consumer and environment protection division said yesterday.

If the department agrees to the DSI request, the son of former Democrat heavyweight Suthep Thaugsuban will have lost ownership rights to yet another tract of land on Samui after officials earlier withdrew ownership documents for a 74-rai plot of land due to irregularities, he said.

Land officials can take immediate action and comply with the lower court ruling or wait until the case is ultimately settled. Mr Tan, together with an accomplice, plans to appeal against the ruling after being released on bail on Wednesday.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission has also been asked to investigate some land and local officials accused of helping grant dubious land ownership documents, Pol Lt Col Prawut said. The 14-rai plot was in Pa Khao Phaeng, a mountain forest on the resort island off the Surat Thani coast.

Mr Tan and Banjerd Laopiyasakul, Mr Suthep’s former secretary, were each sentenced to three years for illegally acquiring the plot and building a pond.

Two other men also found guilty of illegal land acquisition on Samui — Pongchai Fathaweeporn and Samart Ruangsri — were sentenced to five years for illegally snatching 31 rai of land, also in Pa Khao Phaeng.

All four were accused of using Nor Sor 3 Kor documents to seek land title deeds. But when the deeds were issued, they included more land than the amount stated in the document, prosecutors said.