Phuket forestry officials face probe over false documents
Some Phuketbased forestry officials will soon be subject to a criminal investigation after it was alleged that they issued false documents declaring vast areas of two forest reserves as not being under state protection, the Public Sector AntiCorruption Co
This practice was possibly adopted by the same group of officials who put a part of Freedom Beach under private ownership, PACC secretarygeneral Dussadee Arayawuth said, adding that the commission would need another two months to compile evidence.
Meanwhile, a 20rai (3.2hectare) plot straddling the Khuan Laem Toey grassland and the Nark Kerd forest reserve in Phuket is now owned by a private firm because local forestry officials issued false documents saying the plot was outside these protected areas.
Dussadee said the landownership papers suspiciously changed hands three times, before the land ended up being officially owned by an unidentified company in 2008, after it acquired the property in 1989.
The 140rai Khuan Laem Toey grassland was registered as state property in 1937, and since the forest reserve is in a sloping area, no part of it can be owned privately, the PACC chief explained.
At a news conference yesterday, he thanked the people who brought the issue to the PACC, adding that the commission welcomed any tipoffs via its 1260 hotline.
