Twenty years on, Alpine affair still unresolved

By The Nation

 

 

The justice system has handled political matters with due tempo before, but the pace of Yongyuth’s case is shameful 

 

How is it even possible for a criminal case over an illegal land-grab in which the accused is an ordinary citizen to remain undecided after two decades?

 

More commonly, such circumstances culminate in a court verdict within three years. If the accused is a political officeholder or in some other way influential, it appears that 20 years must pass before the case is resolved.

 

The Alpine Golf Course affair drags on through the legal system. The Appeals Court late last month upheld the two-year jail sentence given former Pheu Thai Party leader Yongyuth Wichaidith. He will next appeal again, as is his right, to the Supreme Court. The facts of the scandal seem to embody the major ills of Thai politics – greed, corruption and abuse of power – all compounded by a snail’s-pace approach to prosecution that withers public hope in seeing justice finally done. 

 

Abuse of power allowed temple land to be bought and turned into a commercial golf complex, then for the shady deal to be covered up, at least for a while. Original owner Nuem Chamnarnchatsakda donated 924 rai to Wat Thammika Voraviharn in her 1969 will. But then in 1990 the temple administrators violated transfer conditions and sold the property to a foundation. 

 

The foundation in turn sold it to a company that planned to establish the Alpine Golf Course. Among key stakeholders in that company were the wife and younger brother of Snoh Thienthong, then deputy interior minister in charge of the Land Department. 

 

Laws were being either sidestepped or violated outright. The Shinawatra family, then at the height of its political might, bought the golf course from Snoh for about Bt500 million, only for the Council of State to denounce the resale of the temple land.

 

That left the Land Department with no choice but to try and annul the property’s private ownership. And that’s when Yongyuth stepped in. He was serving as acting permanent secretary of the Interior Ministry. 

 

Yongyuth, now hoping for what would be a miracle verdict on his final appeal, might have been a small pawn in the game. People in lofty positions of power in Thailand too often override the law to grab parcels of land, and it is not a crime unique to any party, nor is the military guiltless.

 

A property-related controversy led to the downfall of Chuan Leekpai’s Democrat government in the mid-1990s. The controversial purchase of government-auctioned land in the mid-2000s – by the ex-wife of then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra – loosened his grip on power and triggered the political division that continues to this day.

 

Chuan and Thaksin’s tempests were resolved quickly because they were so highly politicised. But the Alpine affair is more typical of the Thai justice system, in which cases against powerful people seem to drag on forever. 

 

Thaksin’s supporters still ask what made the Ratchadapisek scandal such a big deal. The question, which represents an integral wedge in the national divide, is entirely political and subjective. It is also far less important than asking why the Alpine case remains unresolved. The accusations levelled in this matter, after all, ought to be easy enough to prove or dismiss in accordance with the law and available documentation.

 

It is essential that we hear a verdict soon, not least because putting the matter to rest would help us on the path towards reconciliation.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30365555

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-11

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

cases against powerful people seem to drag on forever.

Thai lawyers - a job for life; well paid for a minimum of effort with no thought of justice.

How the rich and powerful have the ability to slow things down to a snails pace, call on friends in high places, cause long delays and finally let death beat the approach of justice. A system designed to protect the powerful and dispatch only the poor and weak to prison. A good article, pity it wont change anything.

A country with a corrupt judiciary employing people of questionable character, without a shred of honor and integrity is called a 3rd world banana republic.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

variation on old saw "Time is money"?

At which golf course is he and his friends celebrating the annual "Another year as an untouchable" party?

Another reason is that Thaksin is involved .

3 hours ago, webfact said:

How is it even possible for a criminal case over an illegal land-grab in which the accused is an ordinary citizen to remain undecided after two decades?

aah, a rhetorical question..., want a rhetorical answer?

So it seems to have been established this is all illegal and that the land should not have been sold.

 

It seems the Shins bought it off the guy who engineered the illegal original purchase for 500 million ThB and the accused tried to help stop the courts from declaring the sales illegal and restoring the land to the temple.

 

So, given all this has been going on for 20 years, with no end really in sight, the question is who now owns the land?

The impact on the collective Thai human psyche (and on expats who are impacted by them too) of systemic injustice and amoral, shameless behaviour by folks doing such dishonest selfishly greed motivated things is huge. Creates a whole raft of dysthymic reactions that are bad for us. 

And what happened to the temple administrators who ignored their Buddhist principles and sold land that they were not supposed to sell? Not a word.

6 hours ago, Lungstib said:

How the rich and powerful have the ability to slow things down to a snails pace, call on friends in high places, cause long delays and finally let death beat the approach of justice. A system designed to protect the powerful and dispatch only the poor and weak to prison. A good article, pity it wont change anything.

Yet some people on this forum maintain that all charges against Taksin were politically motivated

3 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

The impact on the collective Thai human psyche (and on expats who are impacted by them too) of systemic injustice and amoral, shameless behaviour by folks doing such dishonest selfishly greed motivated things is huge. Creates a whole raft of dysthymic reactions that are bad for us. 

 

The problem here isn't just that the powerful and influential do these kinds of things and know they often can get away with it...

 

The bigger problem is, according to various polls, the general public tends to be unconcerned about such corruption and probably would do the same thing if they had the opportunity and a chance for a quick $$$ windfall...

 

The moral compass here is either too often broken, or pointing due south!

 

From the Nation article:

 

"...Thaksin’s supporters still ask what made the Ratchadapisek scandal such a big deal. The question, which represents an integral wedge in the national divide, is entirely political and subjective...."

 

It shocks me that the Nation writes / publishes these words.

 

The land case was absolutely clear, the paymaster broke an important law designed to protect the commonwealth of all Thai people. Like all countries Thailand has laws to stop politicians / bureaucrats selling state assets to family, cronies etc.

 

How can there be any argument that such laws are totally appropriate, should exist and should be taken seriously?

 

Any suggestion that the paymaster or his wife were unaware of this law is a total joke, both of them are well experienced people, well aware of the law and both had many legal etc., experts surrounding them every day of the week who should have alerted them this action was illegal. No doubt they were just ignored.  

 

Suggestion that the case was political is total rubbish and cannot be sustained in any way.

 

 

1 hour ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

The fact that there was coup prior to it and he was removed from office, then subsequent illegitimate events effectively politicised the case.

I don't buy that argument, just diversion, and not the point, totally not the point.

 

He clealry broke the law, as clear as the nose on your face, a serious law.  

 

 

13 hours ago, mikebell said:

Thai lawyers - a job for life; well paid for a minimum of effort with no thought of justice.

That describes lawyers everywhere, not only in Thailand.

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The problem here isn't just that the powerful and influential do these kinds of things and know they often can get away with it...

 

The bigger problem is, according to various polls, the general public tends to be unconcerned about such corruption and probably would do the same thing if they had the opportunity and a chance for a quick $$$ windfall...

 

The moral compass here is either too often broken, or pointing due south!

 

 All of the above plus many hi-so Thais have been brought up to believe they are special and laws etc., don't apply to them. 

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The problem here isn't just that the powerful and influential do these kinds of things and know they often can get away with it...

 

The bigger problem is, according to various polls, the general public tends to be unconcerned about such corruption and probably would do the same thing if they had the opportunity and a chance for a quick $$$ windfall...

 

The moral compass here is either too often broken, or pointing due south!

 

To me, the general public sees this all too often. They cannot enter the public debate and their opinion means nothing.

So they appear to be unconcerned. In side and among friends they are seething. 

The public water pot has been simmering for a long time because the dial to increase the heat is broken.

It is only the rich and the generals that control events here. All the police and soldiers are not happy either.

Strange that nobody mentions what a lovely golf course Alpine is and how well it has matured over the past 20 years 

1 hour ago, CGW said:

Strange that nobody mentions what a lovely golf course Alpine is and how well it has matured over the past 20 years 

 

I'm not a golfer, but I can only assume, what you say above is the case because those involved in the project and its various corrupt aspects had tons and tons of "manure" to spread all over it for all these years.