Graftbusters are asking land officials to revoke land documents for a steel mill project of a Sahaviriya Steel Group subsidiary at a resource-rich peat swamp in Prachuap Khiri Khan after finding they were issued illegally.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), which probed Prachuap Pattana Development Co's land acquisition in Bang Saphan district, found the Nor Sor 3 and Nor Sor 3 Kor land documents granted to the company by the Land Department were not in line with the law, NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljeak said yesterday.
The Nor Sor 3 and Nor Sor 3 Kor documents are issued for land use, but in the case of the peat swamp, located near Mae Ramphuen canal, the area is considered pristine with no trace of earlier land development. This means construction on the land is not allowed, he said.
The NACC wants the Land Department to withdraw the documents which enable the company to make use of 11 plots of land covering 200 rai to build a steel plant.
As for the Land Department officials involved in issuing them earlier, the NACC cannot consider legal action against them because they left their jobs more than 10 years before the commission received complaints against the steel mill project, Mr Sansern said.
The project dates back to 2008 when it drew fierce protests from locals who were worried over the impact on nature and flooding that would be caused by land filling.
The peat swamp, which, according to the NACC's findings has been home to plants and rare species for hundreds of years, is also considered by villagers to be their water-retention area.