Landlords Hold Sway In Yingluck's Cabinet

[webfact]

CABINET ASSETS

Landlords hold sway in Yingluck's Cabinet

Somroutai Sapsomboon

The Nation

A majority of Cabinet members are millionaires - and large portions of their assets are held in the form of property.

It was a surprise to many that Science Minister Plodprasob Surassawadee was listed as the wealthiest minister in Yingluck Shinawatra's Cabinet. But a closer look at his assets shows that most are pieces of land.

Of his Bt615 million in assets, land plots account for Bt561 million. Combined with his wife's Bt246 million in property, the couple owns land worth a total of Bt807 million.

Posted on the National Anti-Corruption Commission's website is a 67-page document detailing Plodprasob's land ownership. However, the document cannot currently be accessed.

The following ministers - individually or with their spouses - own land worth over Bt100 million:

1. Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silapa-archa owns land worth Bt8 million. His wife's landholdings total Bt368 million.

2. Defence Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapha has Bt70 million in land; his wife has Bt72 million.

3. Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan had Bt84 million in land; his wife has Bt40 million.

4. Deputy Interior Minister Choochart Harnsawas reports owning Bt147.9 million worth of land comprising 2,025 rai. However, details have not been made available on the NACC website.

5. Justice Minister Pol General Pracha Promnok has Bt28 million in land, while his wife has Bt86 million. Some land belonging to their late son, Pol Col Chattham, was transferred (as inheritance) to them according to the law.

6. Deputy Education Minister Surapong Ueng-ampornvilai has Bt154 million in land.

7. Industry Minister Wannarat Charnnukul has Bt19 million worth of land and his wife Bt203.9 million.

Other ministers and their spouses who own land worth almost Bt100 million:

1. Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung has Bt57 million in land, his wife Bt22 million.

2. Deputy Finance Minister Viroon Tejapaibul has Bt5 million worth of land and his wife Bt84 million.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has Bt65 million worth of land in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Bangkok and Samut Prakan.

The other ministers all own land holdings worth at least Bt10 million.

Meanwhile, members of the previous Cabinet under Abhisit Vejjajiva declared their assets one month after leaving their posts.

Former deputy finance minister Pradit Pataraprasit has the most land - 38 plots worth Bt570 million in total.

Ministers in the Abhisit administration who have over Bt100 million worth of land include:

1. Former tourism and sports minister Chumpol Silapa-archa. (He is also a member of the Yingluck Cabinet; see above.)

2. Former energy minister Wannarat Charnnukul. (Also a member of the Yingluck Cabinet; see above.)

3. Former justice minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga has Bt4 million worth of land. His wife has Bt208 million and their minor children have land worth Bt36 million.

4. Former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij has Bt122 million and his wife has Bt27 million in land.

5. Former deputy public health minister Pansiri Kulanartsiri, sister of veteran politician Somsak Thepsuthin, has Bt2 million worth of land. Her husband has Bt122 million.

6. Former labour minister Phaithoon Kaeothong has Bt7 million in land, while his wife has Bt96 million.

Four Abhisit Cabinet members reported owning land worth Bt50 million to Bt100 million:

Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister

After leaving the post this year, Suthep declared 62 plots worth Bt96 million. All of the 877 rai are in his hometown of Surat Thani, with all lots in Phunphin district except for one in Koh Samui district.

Suthep obtained 57 of the 62 lots from 2009-11, when he was deputy premier. He gained seven lots with deeds this year and six of them are noted as "former Nor Sor 3 land".

Suthep said he acquired the other five lots in 1998, 1999 and 2004.

When he took office in 2008, Suthep declared having 50 lots. All of them were rated as Nor Sor 3, Nor Sor 3 Ko or Nor Sor 4 Jor land, a status lower than land with a title deed. No deeds have been issued for them.

Boonjong Wongtrairat, deputy interior minister

He declared land worth Bt10 million, while his wife had Bt70 million worth of land.

Trairong Suwankiri, deputy prime minister

He declared land worth Bt6 million, while his wife had Bt67.9 million worth of land.

Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, science minister

One year after leaving the post, she declared having Bt1 million of land, while her husband had Bt67 million worth of land.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the premier at the time, had two parcels of land worth Bt19.5 million. He obtained one, of 15 rai, in Pathum Thani in 1982 that is now worth Bt19.2 million. The other parcel is in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district worth Bt381,000. It only has a land-use approval document.

-- The Nation 2011-09-30

[JurgenG]

After leaving the post this year, Suthep declared 62 plots worth Bt96 million. All of the 877 rai are in his hometown of Surat Thani, with all lots in Phunphin district except for one in Koh Samui district.

Suthep obtained 57 of the 62 lots from 2009-11, when he was deputy premier. He gained seven lots with deeds this year and six of them are noted as "former Nor Sor 3 land".

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

Edited September 29, 2011 by JurgenG

[AleG]

After leaving the post this year, Suthep declared 62 plots worth Bt96 million. All of the 877 rai are in his hometown of Surat Thani, with all lots in Phunphin district except for one in Koh Samui district.

Suthep obtained 57 of the 62 lots from 2009-11, when he was deputy premier. He gained seven lots with deeds this year and six of them are noted as "former Nor Sor 3 land".

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

If Suthep is found to have committed acts of corruption (or other illegal activities) he should be held accountable for it; it's proper and desirable that opposing political parties keep a check on each other, so I wouldn't bat an eye if for example PTP provided credible evidence of Suthep (or any other politician) abusing their position.

On the other hand Thaksin supporters by and large seem to prefer to completely turn a blind eye on corruption or weasel out of the question by the ridiculous claim that everyone is corrupt in the same degree so it's OK to be corrupt or it just doesn't matter. Must be part of the same demographic that stated corruption is OK if I can get a cut out of it. (I really do wonder what a cross questioning of that poll about corruption and political affiliation would have yielded)

[Ricardo]

As moral people, this news that they hold lots of land, hopefully won't deter them from looking at introducing a limited Land Tax, to help finance their expensive other proposals to help the poor, rather than just borrowing the money to fund the gap ?

Wonder that Chairman-T's Thoughts are, on that topic ?

[DP25]

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

What are you objecting to?

"When he took office in 2008, Suthep declared having 50 lots. All of them were rated as Nor Sor 3, Nor Sor 3 Ko or Nor Sor 4 Jor land"

[whybother]

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

What are you objecting to?

"When he took office in 2008, Suthep declared having 50 lots. All of them were rated as Nor Sor 3, Nor Sor 3 Ko or Nor Sor 4 Jor land"

He's just picking and choosing the statements he wants to use to make it sound better. Forget about facts.

[blazes]

It's somehow comforting to know that Thailand is no better or worse than any Western country when it comes to politicians feathering their own nests.

PIck your country, but what is the difference between this declaration of upper class control of the country's resources and (say) the Tea Party refusing to even contemplate the taxing of the rich in Amerika, or the British MPs who used their parliamentary allowances to 'improve" their home residences (including the maintenance of a moat around one Tory MP's stately home). Or all the unelected swine at the Euro troughs voting their banking friends Get Out of Jail Free cards with taxpayers' money. Or Sarkozy's banking friends urging him to be nice to Angela. Or Berlusconi asking the Italian people to buckle their belts (erm, but not if you are a footballer).

We live in a very corrupt world, and the only strange thing (so far) is that revolution has only broken out in Arab countries. How long before the oppressed of Amerika and the Greeks and the Turks and even the Israelis (the Brits?) start taking the law into their own hands???/

[phiphidon]

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

What are you objecting to?

"When he took office in 2008, Suthep declared having 50 lots. All of them were rated as Nor Sor 3, Nor Sor 3 Ko or Nor Sor 4 Jor land"

He's just picking and choosing the statements he wants to use to make it sound better. Forget about facts.

It's strange isn't it, Suthep being linked to dodgy practises? Back in the 90's he was Agricultural Minister for the Chuan Leekpai Democrat Government and he was giving land away then. Unfortunately when he was giving title deeds for plots of land to farmers it turned out that among them were members of 11 wealthy families in Phuket. Afterwards Suthep tried to get "hundreds and thousands" of his supporters to march on Bangkok to protest his innocence. Ultimately this scandal led to the downfall of the squeaky clean Leekpai's democratic government. Suthep corrupt? Nah, surely some mistake

[philhal2]

The only way to stop corruption is to stop the corrupt people . when they cease to exist , the world is a better place . Dont believe this , check your history , France , America , lately middle eastern countries , all chopped off the head of the snake . The biggest shame is it seems to grow back again after a period of time .

[AleG]

It's strange isn't it, Suthep being linked to dodgy practises? Back in the 90's he was Agricultural Minister for the Chuan Leekpai Democrat Government and he was giving land away then. Unfortunately when he was giving title deeds for plots of land to farmers it turned out that among them were members of 11 wealthy families in Phuket. Afterwards Suthep tried to get "hundreds and thousands" of his supporters to march on Bangkok to protest his innocence. Ultimately this scandal led to the downfall of the squeaky clean Leekpai's democratic government. Suthep corrupt? Nah, surely some mistake

You know what would be fantastic? That PTP would stop obsessing with whitewashing the corruption of one man (or family) and would make a positive change in the fight against corruption beyond partisan politics.

In the meantime PTP and Thaksin cheerleaders would do a lot for their credibility if they'd stop derailing discussions by pointing the straw in someone else's eyes and ignoring the beam in Team Thaksin eye.

[whybother]

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

What are you objecting to?

"When he took office in 2008, Suthep declared having 50 lots. All of them were rated as Nor Sor 3, Nor Sor 3 Ko or Nor Sor 4 Jor land"

He's just picking and choosing the statements he wants to use to make it sound better. Forget about facts.

It's strange isn't it, Suthep being linked to dodgy practises? Back in the 90's he was Agricultural Minister for the Chuan Leekpai Democrat Government and he was giving land away then. Unfortunately when he was giving title deeds for plots of land to farmers it turned out that among them were members of 11 wealthy families in Phuket. Afterwards Suthep tried to get "hundreds and thousands" of his supporters to march on Bangkok to protest his innocence. Ultimately this scandal led to the downfall of the squeaky clean Leekpai's democratic government. Suthep corrupt? Nah, surely some mistake

I didn't say anything about Suthep NOT being corrupt. I just commented on Jurgen picking a bad example to show it.

[rixalex]

After leaving the post this year, Suthep declared 62 plots worth Bt96 million. All of the 877 rai are in his hometown of Surat Thani, with all lots in Phunphin district except for one in Koh Samui district.

Suthep obtained 57 of the 62 lots from 2009-11, when he was deputy premier. He gained seven lots with deeds this year and six of them are noted as "former Nor Sor 3 land".

These people have really no shame .

Beside I really don't know how the yellow brigade can keep a straight face when they accuse Thaksin of corruption

It's not necessary to accuse Thaksin of corruption. He has been convicted of it. Anyone else guilty, should follow him to jail - or should that be self-imposed exile?

Anyway, this story is from The Nation. Don't we dismiss it as being biased nonsense? Or is that only when it reports something about Thaksin we don't like?

[TAWP]

I support any corrupt politicians to be handed the Chinese penalty for it.

Will any Red Shirt apologists stand by the same?

[phiphidon]

It's strange isn't it, Suthep being linked to dodgy practises? Back in the 90's he was Agricultural Minister for the Chuan Leekpai Democrat Government and he was giving land away then. Unfortunately when he was giving title deeds for plots of land to farmers it turned out that among them were members of 11 wealthy families in Phuket. Afterwards Suthep tried to get "hundreds and thousands" of his supporters to march on Bangkok to protest his innocence. Ultimately this scandal led to the downfall of the squeaky clean Leekpai's democratic government. Suthep corrupt? Nah, surely some mistake

You know what would be fantastic? That PTP would stop obsessing with whitewashing the corruption of one man (or family) and would make a positive change in the fight against corruption beyond partisan politics.

In the meantime PTP and Thaksin cheerleaders would do a lot for their credibility if they'd stop derailing discussions by pointing the straw in someone else's eyes and ignoring the beam in Team Thaksin eye.

Interesting to note that you have declared yourself as the arbiter of credibility of "Thaksin and PTP cheerleaders" and as to how they could improve it. If you had read the entire OP you would find there is mention of Suthep and his landholdings. It seems suitable therefore to discuss Sutheps landholdings and associated behaviour before with landholdings. I do not regard that as derailing the debate about the OP which I presume is what you meant with your mish mash of metaphors at the end of your post.

It takes more than one political party to clear up corruption.

[bigbamboo]

Politicians the world over can't be trusted. Even in the UK only one good man has ever got into Parliament and that was Guy Fawkes.