Six Mountains company files defamation suit against Hiranpruecks

The conflict over a 24-rai (3.84-hectare) plot in mountainous forested area on Phuket province’s Naga Noi Island went one step further, as Six Mountains chairman Chanwit Kitlertsiriwattana visited the Thalang Police Station to file defamation and Computer Crimes Act complaints against the Hiranprueck family. 

Chanwit said his company had suffered a lot from the “slanderous” comments posted online by the Hiranpruecks, in which they said that the company’s land had been unlawfully registered and that the company had threatened the family with weapons. 

“I have to file both civil and criminal lawsuits against Puri and his family for distributing inaccurate information, as their action has damaged the reputation of both me and my business,” he said. 

 

Governor urges delay

Meanwhile, Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada has asked Six Mountains to delay any activities on the disputed land until questions regarding the land deed has been clarified. 

Chamroen also said that if the land deed is found to be illegally registered, it will be revoked and the offenders involved will be brought to justice. 

Chanwit claimed that his company had purchased this plot from a local named Kasem Horthip in 2014 for Bt42 million and that the Hiranprueck family were not the only landowners on the island. The Hiranpruecks own 53 rai in the northern half of the island. 

A local source also said that before the Hiranpruecks bought the land on Naga Noi Island, other people from nearby Naga Yai Island used the land on Naga Noi, but once the Hiranpruecks bought their plot, they were no longer allowed to enter the area. However, the source said, these people still owned plots on Naga Noi. 

Meanwhile, Pongsuk Hiranprueck said his father had legally purchased the coconut plantation from locals in 1968, and that there was only one plot in the island that could be registered because the rest of the island was forestland on mountainous terrain, which had not yet been developed. 

 

‘No other landowners’

“There were no other legal land deeds on the island except for the one we owned. The claim that there are other landowners on the island is just not true. They may have acquired illegitimate land deeds just like the Six Mountains Co,” Pongsuk said. 

“The Department of Special Investigation has pointed out that there has been no evidence of human activity on the disputed land for more than 50 years, so how can they register land ownership in a forested area?” 

He said the Horthip family had once contacted his family, asking to sell the land-use certification (Sor Kor 1) for the disputed plot five years ago, but his family refused. He later learned that the land-use certification covered a plot on Naga Yai Island, but was expanded later to cover the area on Naga Noi. 

He emphasised that the land deed on the disputed plot was clearly illegal because it covered land on the other island. Moreover, he said, before the conflict spilled over, Six Mountains gave his family two options – buy its land for Bt42 million or sell their land to the firm so it could develop a resort. 

The disputed plot is being investigated by personnel from the Lands Department to find out if the land had been legally registered. The result will be disclosed early next month.