Thaksin's Family Owns Land Worth Over Bt1 Billion

[george]

NCCC DOCUMENTS: Cabinet full of big landlords

New findings reveal Thaksin's family owns land worth over Bt1 bn

In stark contrast to the more than 400,000 landless families struggling to survive around the country, many members of the Cabinet enjoy vast land holdings worth more than Bt100 million each.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family tops the list in terms of land ownership by Cabinet members, holding land valued at more than Bt1 billion, documents filed with the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) show.

No other ministerial families cross the Bt1-billion line.

"It reflects the unfair allocation of land," Pairoj Polpetch, secretary-general of the People's Rights and Freedom Promotion Association, said.

"Certainly, it's not against the law, but we have to question the land-price mechanism, which puts most of the land in the hands of a few people."

Pairoj said it remained to be proven whether the incumbent administration had the public's interest - and not its own - at heart.

"I want to see if the government will enforce a progressive land tax," he said.

While Thaksin himself only reported ownership of a plot of land in Lamphun worth about Bt535,000, his wife Khunying Pojaman owns one of the most coveted plots of land in Bangkok.

In December, Pojaman beat two leading real-estate companies - Land and House Plc and Noble Development Plc - with a Bt772-million bid for a 33-rai plot of former state land near the National Cultural Centre and Ratchadaphisek Road.

The land was put up for auction by the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), the state-run rescue fund controlled by the central bank, after it was seized from the bankrupt Erawan Trust finance company in 1995.

Pojaman also owns land plots in other parts of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chumphon and Pathum Thani.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob's family ranked second when it came to land wealth. Notably, most of Newin's 500 rai of land in Buri Ram was held in the form of Nor Sor 3 Kor, a type of land-right document. Generally, such land is valued at a lower rate than regular land-title deeds.

"We have accumulated Nor Sor 3 Kor land because our family runs mining businesses," said Chat Thai MP Chai Chidchob, Newin's father. He added that his family also bought land at the request of some villagers who needed cash.

Newin and his wife have land worth about Bt803 million.

Not surprisingly, Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, whose family is involved in the real-estate business, emerged in third place. Her family holds land worth about Bt789 million.

Deputy Commerce Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal, Finance Minister Suchart Jaovisidha and Justice Minister Pongthep Thepkanjana said their land wealth came mostly from inheritances.

"My parents left me plots worth hundreds of millions of baht," Suchart said, while Pongthep said both he and his wife inherited land fortunes.

The family of Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piumsombun owns Bt217 million worth of land, and is the only one among the incumbent Cabinet to own a plot overseas.

Purachai said he purchased land in New Zealand worth Bt2.3 million so his wife and children would have somewhere to stay while the children studied there.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsuthin's wife Anongwan said her family acquired vast areas of land in Sukhothai to "help" local villagers - not to take advantage of their lack of cash.

"They asked us to help. And most of the land was flooded [at the time of sale]," Anongwan said, denying reports that Somsak's land purchases were for the purpose of land speculation or to develop a golf course.

She said she offered the land for rent at low prices.

--The Nation 2004-02-15

[sirusman]

He owns 700 rai near Ambassador City Pattaya which he purchased for the first legal casino in Thailand ,and this from a man the instucts Isp to blocked betting and gambling sites. The man is so corupt and 2 faced

[Kringle]

[DaveYo]

A billion baht worth of land. Lets see where these casino's get built upon. This should be interesting.

Daveyoti

[stumonster]

BT1 billion of land

he wil cark it a happy man

som nam na

[Guest chingy]

holding land valued at more than Bt1 billion

that's alot of land, maybe he should buy an island next, and call it ThaiLand II.

[penelope]

In relative terms, 1 Billion baht worth of land for a USD billion worth family is a rather paltry ratio.I would of expected more. A better stat would be how many rai does he own as a ratio to the amount of purchaseable land in Thailand. It would also be nice to know how much land his family own overseas

[eric1000]

you would have thought that he would own a lot of cheap land out by the new airport which he bought cheap before the plans got known about and thus made a killing .