FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Pheu Thai MP seeks answers on land case

Pheu Thai MP seeks answers on land case

A Pheu Thai Party MP yesterday vowed to pursue a land-encroachment case involving The Mall Bang Khae in Bangkok, and accused Bangkok Metropolitan Administration officials and the city governor of possible negligence of duty for allowing the shopping centr

Pracha Prasobdee said he would submit the issue to the House panel on legal affairs, justice and human rights and ask the Department of Special Investigation and National Anti-Corruption Commission to look into the matter. He called on Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra to clarify the issue.

Democrat Party MP Thaworn Senneam said he had spoken with Pracha and promised to find out who was instrumental in securing the district office’s approval that authorised The Mall to expand into the one-rai plot when a court order had ruled it was public land. 
 
The encroachment occurred during Thaworn’s time as deputy interior minister under Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government, when he was in charge of the Land Department.
 
The Democrat MP admitted to signing the approval for the mall’s expansion, but said he wasn’t aware of the court verdict, adding there was no such information attached to the document he was meant to sign. Thaworn said any criminal inquiry into the matter should focus on BMA officials who sought his approval for the expansion.
 
Asked if Sukhumbhand, who is the Democrat Party’s deputy secretary-general, should also face criminal investigation, Thaworn said: “It is the matter of a total investigation, which would proceed with him being part of it.” 
 
Noppharat Noppharatsiri, the Land Department official who submitted the request to Thaworn, said he was responsible for initiating the request for the expansion, but claimed he did not know about the court verdict or that there had been a dispute over the plot before he sought approval from Thaworn. 
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