Land bought under false deeds returned

Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) secretary-general Lt-Colonel Korntip Daroj said the owner of the two plots – one covering 1,342 rai and the other 1,430 rai – was willing to return the land to the state. 
He said officials involved in the case could not be punished because the alleged illegal transaction had taken place more than 30 years ago and statute of limitations had expired. However, they had been disciplined and dismissed from civil service. 
“What we can do is take the land back,” he said.
Korntip, in his capacity as secretary to the National Anti-Corruption Centre (NACC), led a team to Phu Rua yesterday to check on the progress of the case. 

Fiddling of documents
It was alleged that the Sor Kor 1 documents for plots in Dan Sai district’s Tambon Phon Sung had been used to apply for the upgrade of plots in Phu Rua’s Tambon Plaba and Tambon Rong Jik to the status of Nor Sor 3 Kor documents in 1990. 

The plots were then sold for approximately Bt150,000 per rai, officials said. 
Korntip said PACC investigators found that originally there were 63 plots of land, and the occupation of only 31 plots could be justified since Tambon Plaba was still under Dan Sai district at the time of purchase. 
The tambon was moved under Phu Rua district in 1974, but the 26 original landowners did not obtain Sor Kor 1 documents for the plots. 
Officials could not find information for the other 32 plots. 
According to Korntip, the plots were sold in 1989 to a former schoolteacher, who served as a property broker. 
The plots were then upgraded to the Nor Sor 3 Khor status and turned into the two large plots the following year. 
A Thai man, identified as Loei Sriburin, was named in the Nor Sor 3 Khor documents as the original landlord. According to the documents, he should have been over 100 years old, but was in fact only 60.