PHUKET: Six powerful government organisations - including anti-corruption groups and the Department of Special Investigation - pledged on Phuket yesterday to form a grand alliance to end public land theft and promote a new generation of right-minded officials.
The groups will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday undertaking to pursue highly-placed perpetrators, no matter what.
Secretary General of the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption, Major General Dusadee Arayawuthi, told a meeting at Phuket's Central Festival: ''The people of Phuket don't want their island covered in concrete, just like Hong Kong. Unless this tide of evil is stopped, that is the danger.''
Joining the ''Thai Pure Heart'' campaign were the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption, the Interior Ministry, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Department of Special Investigation, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Agricultural Land Reform Office.
Major General Dusadee said now was the time to act because research indicated that most of the shonky land property titles were created between August and September 30, when the senior officials often slipped into retirement.
''This job needs real heart,'' the major general said. ''We must start now to build a new breed of clean-skin administrators who are not connected with the old officials and their corrupt ways.
''Success or failure will depend on the strength of character in these organisations.''
A national anti-corruption hotline is to be created on 1206.
The major general said at least 200 properties on Phuket were being investigated.
One of the places under most intense scrutiny are the hills behind the popular Phuket west coast holiday destinations of Kamala and Patong, where senior officials looked at property yesterday.
A former Phuket vice governor and a former Interior Ministry permanent secretary are being investigated, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission has been called in because of its wider powers.
A crooked surveyor is believed to have been given land worth 10 million to seal one of the deals for ill-gotten land that could be worth billions of baht if developed as a resort.
The former Phuket vice governor and the Interior permanent secretary, suspected of issuing documents for areas where ownership is prohibited and of involvement in land scams covering hundreds of rai, have been christened the ''Dream Team'' by one investigator.
The former Phuket vice governor is suspected of using legitimate documents of land ownership in other areas for plots he wanted in Patong.
Senior officials are also suspected of being involved in the illegal issuing of documents for another 354 rai of land. This case also involved eight local land officials in Kathu district.
PACC investigator Tanawat Sanitpakdi found some of the land was heavily sloped yesterday. In other areas, the perpetrators had scattered rubber trees among the forest in the pretence that it as agricultural land.
In 10 months on Phuket, officials have checked extensive areas along secluded beachfronts and in the Phuket hills, with the potential to be worth a fortune.
Major General Dusadee said yesterday on Phuket that only with a generation change to honest officials could Phuket's green public areas be preserved.
The groups will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday undertaking to pursue highly-placed perpetrators, no matter what.
Secretary General of the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption, Major General Dusadee Arayawuthi, told a meeting at Phuket's Central Festival: ''The people of Phuket don't want their island covered in concrete, just like Hong Kong. Unless this tide of evil is stopped, that is the danger.''
Joining the ''Thai Pure Heart'' campaign were the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption, the Interior Ministry, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Department of Special Investigation, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Agricultural Land Reform Office.
Major General Dusadee said now was the time to act because research indicated that most of the shonky land property titles were created between August and September 30, when the senior officials often slipped into retirement.
''This job needs real heart,'' the major general said. ''We must start now to build a new breed of clean-skin administrators who are not connected with the old officials and their corrupt ways.
''Success or failure will depend on the strength of character in these organisations.''
A national anti-corruption hotline is to be created on 1206.
The major general said at least 200 properties on Phuket were being investigated.
One of the places under most intense scrutiny are the hills behind the popular Phuket west coast holiday destinations of Kamala and Patong, where senior officials looked at property yesterday.
A former Phuket vice governor and a former Interior Ministry permanent secretary are being investigated, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission has been called in because of its wider powers.
A crooked surveyor is believed to have been given land worth 10 million to seal one of the deals for ill-gotten land that could be worth billions of baht if developed as a resort.
The former Phuket vice governor and the Interior permanent secretary, suspected of issuing documents for areas where ownership is prohibited and of involvement in land scams covering hundreds of rai, have been christened the ''Dream Team'' by one investigator.
The former Phuket vice governor is suspected of using legitimate documents of land ownership in other areas for plots he wanted in Patong.
Senior officials are also suspected of being involved in the illegal issuing of documents for another 354 rai of land. This case also involved eight local land officials in Kathu district.
PACC investigator Tanawat Sanitpakdi found some of the land was heavily sloped yesterday. In other areas, the perpetrators had scattered rubber trees among the forest in the pretence that it as agricultural land.
In 10 months on Phuket, officials have checked extensive areas along secluded beachfronts and in the Phuket hills, with the potential to be worth a fortune.
Major General Dusadee said yesterday on Phuket that only with a generation change to honest officials could Phuket's green public areas be preserved.
This is, in my opinion, a fantastic report. More detail than I've ever seen and gives real hope of change if everything followed through. Even other cynics like me must be encouraged by this. I read somewhere, a while ago, that it was illegal to build on land above a certain gradient, and then watched the developments on the road down to Patong from Kathu, and the stuff on the east Patong hillside. You can see from the air sometimes, leaving the airport, the huge amount of buildings on the whole island.
Posted by George Saint on August 12, 2012 08:11