The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and Fourth Army region officers on Thursday inspected Koh Raet in Phuket following complaints that title deeds have been issued illegally there.
Local civic networks in Phuket earlier petitioned the PACC, asking it to look into irregularities in title deeds issued on Koh Raet. They said the land ownership documents should not have been approved.
About 161 rai of land plots on Koh Raet, in tambon Paklok of Thalang district, had allegedly been taken over by investors. Three alleged encroachers are real estate firms in the province.
According to the investigation, local politicians had secured the land ownership documents of the areas in 1981, 1994 and 2003 and sold the plots to foreign nationals for billions of baht.
The land plots were later developed for business investors, but due to business conflicts between the sellers and the investors, construction of buildings had stalled.
Pol Lt Col Chaiwin Semathong, director of the PACC's Office of Anti-Corruption in Public Area 5, said the inspection found a small pier, roads, three dwellings and a groundwater pumping facility on the island.
However, a person who claimed to be a landlord presented authorities with a land ownership document, which indicated the land was bought from a private company, one of the three real estate firms.
Pol Lt Col Chaiwin said the investigation found the Nor Sor 3 Kor paper was issued by the Phuket Provincial Land Office following a survey by officials, who falsely reported it was orchard land.
It was actually forest land with trees aged at least 50 years old, he said.
Nor Sor 3 Kor papers were later upgraded to full title deeds.
The survey officials will face malfeasance charges, Pol Lt Col Chaiwin said, adding the three companies would also be held accountable.
Speaking about other encroachment cases on the island, he said the investigation also found that in 2003, an individual had claimed to own a 15-rai plot land on Kho Raet. He presented a Sor Kor 1 document, saying it was a coconut orchard.
However, aerial photographs taken in 1995 showed it was a long strip of beach, he said. A large hotel is now being built in the area.
Ownership documents were also wrongly issued close to Surin beach where a 16-metre-high building is now being constructed.
The building is only 16 metres from the beach, which is against regulations set by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. They say no tall building may be built within 50 metres of the beach, he said.
A nearby area was found to be the site of a housing estate allegedly built without a prior environmental impact assessment having been conducted, Pol Lt Col Chaiwin said.
Other housing estates were found in the Sirinat National Park and Khao Luak-Khao Muang National Reserve on the main island of Phuket, Pol Lt Col Chaiwin said. Sirinat is a marine park covering an area of about 60,000 rai in Thalang district.
A lack of expertise by Land Department officials in scrutinising land documents is holding up progress in the forest encroachment probe in Sirinat National Park, sources say.
However, the department insisted it had provided copies of important documents to park officials. Also, inspecting land documents requires special skills to understand regulations that may change over time, it said.
Land officials have been told to help investigators deal with the paperwork and work better with the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department. The department said last month it hoped to finish its probe into land disputes in the park by the end of March.