The Kirimaya Golf Resort and Spa in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district should be compensated if the title deed it bought from a land auction held by the Legal Execution Department (LED) is found to be illegal, the Justice Ministry says.
Compensation may be needed as the resort paid the state agency at the auction and was an innocent buyer of what could turn out to be improperly issued deeds, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya said yesterday.
Allegations of an illegal 763-rai land grab at the Kirimaya Golf Resort and Spa emerged recently after Rak Thailand Party leader Chuvit Kamolvisit alleged irregularities.
He was writing on his Facebook page on April 11.
The initial probe found land documents should not have been issued on 36 land blocks where the resort is located as it is a forest zone, according to ministry sources.
Roy Kaew Co, the resort operator, won the land auction held by the LED with 265 million baht in 2002, LED chief Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol said yesterday.
The land earlier belonged to Khao Yai Natural Park Co, which went bankrupt following a bankruptcy lawsuit filed by the defunct Nakornthon Bank, she said.
The department proceeded with the auction following the court order and it has no involvement with verification of land ownership documents, Ms Ruenvadee said.
Meanwhile, the Agricultural Land Reform Office (Alro) is speeding up its assessment of damages incurred by Bonanza Resort's racetrack, which allegedly encroached on 57 rai of its land in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district.
The damages will be gauged from the appraised price of the land and benefits which the resort operator gained over the period of alleged encroachment, said Chamnan Klinchan, an Alro officer in Nakhon Ratchasima.
The circuit must also be demolished and the area returned to its original state before the project was established.
An investigation will also be carried out to verify whether the encroachment happened before or after the Alro received the land from the Royal Forest Department (RFD) in 1993, he said.
A source earlier disclosed that Bonanza's racetrack encroaches on about 166 rai of forest reserves, public land and land reserved for agricultural purposes.
Speaking about an encroachment investigation into the Moondance Khao Yai Residence in Pak Chong district, Col Sommai Busaba, chief of the 2nd Army's legal team, said the 284 rai of land it occupies is in a national forest reserve.
The land is covered by Nor Sor 3 Kor land ownership documents following surveys in 1976.
In 1989, the RFD transferred the land to Alro for allocation to farmers, but the Lands Department's office issued title deeds replacing the Nor Sor 3 Kor documents for the land which was then divided into 115 land plots and sold out to customers.