Thai steel company Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) is rejecting calls from corruption officials to revoke its land rights over a mangrove swamp amid complaints from conservation groups.
The firm insists it has no plans to build on the site, despite the residents' claims, and that it legally owns the land.
The company's stance comes in the face of opposition from villagers who fear it may construct an iron smelting plant on the land plots in Bang Saphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province. They say the smelter would adversely affect their lives and the environment.
On Tuesday, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) announced it will ask the Lands Department to revoke Nor Sor 3 and Nor Sor 3 Kor land documents allowing the company to build the plant on a peat swamp, which the commission says should be preserved for its ecological benefits.
Chatchawan Imbunchon, manager of the government affairs office for SSI, the country's largest hot-rolled coil steelmaker, said yesterday its land ownership is lawful.
"The company acquired the land by buying from villagers who were willing to sell," he said.
He cited a 2012 Administrative Court ruling that upheld SSI's claim that its land rights were lawfully obtained from the Lands Department.
The area in question covers 200 rai on a peat swamp near Mae Ramphueng canal in Bang Saphan.
Prachuap Pattana Development Co, an SSI subsidiary, bought the land to build an iron smelting plant there, according to the NACC's findings.
Mr Chatchawan disputes those findings.
"In fact, that is not where we intended to build the smelter,'' he said.
The intended site was actually north of the swamp, but the company has scrapped the project anyway. SSI recently invested in a smelter in England instead.
Jintana Kaewkhao, the leader of the Ban Krut Conservation Group, said residents will not give up their fight and will monitor the case closely.
They say SSI's steel project, if it is revived, would destroy the mangrove swamp.
"We have been fighting the company since 2007 because we want to save the resource-rich zone for the next generation," she said.