Land ownership documents for more than 600 rai of the Kirimaya Golf Resort and Spa in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district may have been issued over what is Sor Por Kor agricultural reform land, which legally cannot be sold, a Justice Ministry source said.
And of the resort's 1,696-rai land area, 763 rai was bought from an auction held by the Legal Execution Department which was found to overlap with land located in the Lamtakong self-help settlement scheme in Pak Chong district, the source said.
The Sor Por Kor land, which exceeds 600 rai in size, was allocated to poor farmers and prohibited from being sold, the source said.
The land proprietor must comply with the self-help settlement land scheme by using the land only for agricultural purposes, which means the resort and golf courses were not supposed to have been built, the source added.
The resort came under scrutiny after Rak Thailand Party leader Chuvit Kamolvisit said he suspected there had been an illegal land grab on the property, which reportedly belongs to one of the supporters of the People's Democratic Reform Committee, the anti-Yingluck Shinawatra movement.
The ministry source insisted the probe was not politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Pol Col Dusadee Arayawuth, deputy permanent secretary for justice, said he will survey the resort Tuesday along with officials from the Department of Special Investigation and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission.
Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya had told ministry officials to work with other agencies on land encroachment problems and said all parties must be treated fairly, Pol Col Dusadee said.
Col Sommai Busaba, chief of the 2nd Army's legal team, said state agencies had contacted him asking to send forces to join the official inspection of the Kirimaya resort.
According to the source, state officials, including those from the Lands Department and the Agricultural Land Reform Office, were suspected of illegally issuing land ownership documents in several land blocks in tambons Nong Chuem and Moo Si of Pak Chong district.
It could have started with the issuance of Sor Khor 1, a form which indicates land ownership for farming purposes only, later upgraded to Nor Sor 3 Kor ownership documents and title deeds respectively, the source said. The land with title deeds was then put on sale, priced at more than 10 million baht a rai, the source said.
Speaking about the encroachment probe into the Bonanza International Speedway racetrack in Pak Chong district, Pol Col Boonlert Wongwajana, deputy commander of Nakhon Ratchasima police and the chief of the investigation team, said officers continued to summon those who have their names in Nor Sor 3 Kor papers issued on the property for questioning.
However, Bonanza's owner Phaiwong Techanarong, who holds Nor Sor 3 Kor papers on two blocks, and his daughter who holds another two blocks, have not yet turned up to give their accounts to police, Pol Col Boonlert said.