Elite 'grabbed land meant for poor farmers'
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The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has found that high-ranking officials, families of the elite and wealthy businessmen own land plots in Lamtakong settlement in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district, which was meant to be allotted to po
PACC secretary-general Dussadee Arayawut said yesterday the agency conducted a random check on land ownership in the Lamtakong land settlement after complaints of irregularities. It found that most people who had been given plots weren’t qualified because they were not farmers affected by the construction of Lamtakong Dam.
Resort-style homes had been built on the land and the owners had not done any farming there.
The anti-graft agency had asked the Cooperative Promotion Department to check the qualifications of land recipients and suspend further allocations. Land should be seized from those who did not qualify for the scheme. Other land settlements would also be checked to prevent a repeat of the scenario where the rich get free land and the poor end up encroaching on forests.
A source said a random check of 50 plots found a number of big businessmen and high-ranking officials owned land in the Lamtakong settlement. Only poor farmers without land and those affected by the Lamtakong Dam, including those who had lived there earlier, were entitled to get free land for settlement. Corrupt officials were believed to have overlooked the qualification for recipients.
“Members of the Lamtakong land resettlement may have given false statements about their income and the officials intentionally failed to check their qualifications even though they could have easily cross-checked with the social security and company data base, the source said.
People qualified for the scheme were eligible to receive five rai of land in the first year and another five rai in the second year if they provided evidence they would use the land for agriculture. The maximum land they can receive is 20 rai.
“Land recipients normally hire workers to grow tapioca and take pictures of the plantation to the office to claim the maximum 20 rai. They then build a house and register their housing registration as required by the rules,’’ he said.
There are up to 10,000 members in land settlements. Among them are big and famous family names such as Tangsupanit, Watcharapai, Chirathiwat, Sawatdiwat, Aksaranuwat, Ruangkrittaya, Chakkapak, Sutabutr, Panitchakul, and Satirabutr.
