Police reveal how Phuket's public beaches were rented out - for billions

[JonathanBP]

Democracy is so overrated....nothing better than a (mostly) benevolent dictatorship to clean up the mess....so far, it seems good

[dukebowling]

What did Yutthana do wrong? He got a permit from the Mayor and then rented his services to hotels.

[WitawatWatawit]

Hey but what about a tax bill going to these people. Avioding tax should be 100% fine?

Tax collectors??? Could this be the crippling blow that the good general is missing? A la Al Capone? Give a whopping boost to the revenue and tax departments and then leave them to be self-sustainable.

[crazykopite]

Lock him and his cronies up for ten Years once you have got all the bank accounts cleared

[Benmart]

Next stop, Pattaya and Jomtien? Any reason it would be any different on the eastern seaboard?

Yes indeed. Both places need a total clean up, both figuratively and literally.

Good job Army, Navy and PM!

[steelepulse]

Guaranteed the jet ski and para sail guys also have to pay the piper, I wonder how much? Speaking of that, hopefully it will come to light how much this slimeball mayor collects from the taxi and tuk tuk "coop" each month to allow them to do what they please with no implications. I've seen plenty of assaults handed down by the scumbag drivers but never anyone arrested or charged.

Well done to the Army to nail this POS.

[IamNoone88]

I will believe the Military when they nail Patong's old leadership. Kata and Karon are peanuts when compared to what Patong has been raking in all these years. Its a mere distraction to that municipality.

[Oziex1]

but the other side tourist need sun beds and umbrellas. so someone have to rent.

Get over it! It's not coming back!

[Bignose]

And the cleansing process continues, just when you think it can't get any better.................. watch this space!

[dzodun]

There will be a few patsies who take a fall so the rest will get a slap on the wrist and finally the

statute of limitations will help many slip away to scam another day, No jail time for the great

majority of vendors nor the mayor.

[GoNavy]

but the other side tourist need sun beds and umbrellas. so someone have to rent.

That is what I was thinking. Do need someone on the beach to run the operation. Salaried with the rest going to the city or beach fund would be sufficient and legal I would think.

[Nuddy]

Are there really any of these "beach" people who actually obey the Law?

I have lost my enthusiasm for any of these guys who have been "done out of a job" because of the cleaning up of the beach.

Is it that the Thai people cannot help themselves? No thats doubtful I reckon.

I read in a book on Thailand once that Thai people like to find a subject and then leach off it.

I suppose the subject is the farlangs that show up. Yep thats amazing that they all could be like that?

But it is getting difficult to find a good guy lately.

Regards

[MobileContent]

It looks to me that some hotels were in on the deal

[natway09]

And the boys in brown got nothing out of this ?. No way, & why now has this problem come to a head They sat back & allowed it to happen

but no reward ?. Pigs fly?

Only the military can sort this out,,, the boys in brown will just organize another angle to arrange their divi a different way

[heyexile]

but the other side tourist need sun beds and umbrellas. so someone have to rent.

Your right and you will see the sun beds again, if done right, the operators will be licensed by city hall and the money will go into public coffers, receipts issued with an auditor to check up on things.

If the money had gone into public coffers in the first place there would be no corruption charges at this point.

I am not up on Thai civic law however most municipal governments generally can issue permits, and charge for the permits, to operate businesses on public land when they can show it is in the publics interest.

Change of management. Stricter regs on beach space taken up, very good. Fewer operating licences issued to fewer operators = licences even more valuable. Will be interesting to see who pays whom for them.

Police region 8, that rings some bells in connection with another high profile case. Still, good to see that investigating officers have not been "confused" by social media in this important moving deck-chair case.

[Lupatria]

In court, Yutthana was sentenced to six months in jail and fined B4,000. Because he had pleaded guilty, the sentence was halved to three months and B2,000, and the jail term was suspended for a year.

And with the mind of a dirty old man, I’m wondering: how much did he have to pay for this?

Btw- after pulling out my glasses and reading between the lines I read:

Police confessed they were part in how Phuket's public beaches were rented out - for billions (for decades)

[timewilltell]

What did Yutthana do wrong? He got a permit from the Mayor and then rented his services to hotels.

Quite and it seems everyone missed the elephant in the room which is that in the parallel case against the Patong Mayor and district officer for Kathu was ....... Dismissed in the Administrative Court.

So the small fry who paid the Government Official for the 'municipality permit' in Karon gets a slap whilst the guys in Patong get off Scott free. Unfortunately details of the parallel case are not given but I assume for a similar set of circumstances?

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[Nuddy]

Yeah I got cut out there

[martinhp]

Now we have a clearer picture of the money these people claim to have contributed to the country.

As I said before, not even one Satang.

They all went to the pockets of the Mayor and his mafia colleagues.

Well done to the army for exposing another scum.

And commiserations to the people that don't like the present government.

They only go after the pebble they want they control the press so to understand you have to look closer

The self elected pm needs friends to stay so he already chose

But good for you you get played that easy then no worries

[JDGRUEN]

but the other side tourist need sun beds and umbrellas. so someone have to rent.

No - no they don't ... Ao Nang and the adjacent beaches do not have anything on them except sand, seashells, and water..

[Carrerakiss]

Lets hope they have to pay back every baht to the government plus time in the monkey house...

If the six year old case quoted as an example is any precedent, they will have to pay a fine of 2000 baht and lose their sunbeds.

Big deal. Quite how that serves as a deterrent, I have no idea.

[Emster23]

today in pattaya the police and military were measuring beach vendors spaces,the vendors were noticably ''pissed'' i was told the rows of chairs and umberellas which sometimes are 5 deep,will be reduced to (2) rows per section..as we know on high tide it is impossible to walk the beach as the vendors take up all the space....this is terrific news.....sawadee (love the crap)

Same is true in Jomtien today: tape measures, about 5-6 cops with other official looking types at various sites up and down beach. Umbrella people didn't look too happy.

"“Tomorrow about 15 sunbed operators will be summoned to the police station to be charged with trespassing on public land." I think that approach is a bit harsh. They dealt with officials and paid fees so they could do business. That went to pockets of corrupt politicians for sure, but who else would they get permission from? Report it to police? Ghostbusters? Who you gonna call? I think losing their investment in umbrellas and related vending stock is punishment enough. As far as government abuse, triple damages of money they stole from people of Thailand, 15 years minimum in prison hard labor.

[steelepulse]

What did Yutthana do wrong? He got a permit from the Mayor and then rented his services to hotels.

Quite and it seems everyone missed the elephant in the room which is that in the parallel case against the Patong Mayor and district officer for Kathu was ....... Dismissed in the Administrative Court.

So the small fry who paid the Government Official for the 'municipality permit' in Karon gets a slap whilst the guys in Patong get off Scott free. Unfortunately details of the parallel case are not given but I assume for a similar set of circumstances?

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

That was an old case from years ago, with the court most probably in on it for a nice easy sentence. Let's see what happens this go round with the ex Patong mayor already being charged with numerous crimes. He won't get off so light this time I would hope.

[hiller]

a map of Kata Beach clearly showing how the entire beach had been divided up, and naming the operators for each of the 31 slices, which run from the top of the beach to about halfway to the high tide line.

The map notes that the total length of the beach is 1,497.2 metres and the space for sunbeds takes up 1,087 metres of that length

That shows some sophisticated organization. So, Take that! All you Thai-bashers who are always going on about how Thais are disorganized goofballs!

T

I like that comment!!! I hear it all the time about the "disorganized, stupid thais who apparently don't know how to do anything right"..... I hear that almost as much as I hear about the "highly intelligent foreigner being scammed" by the "disorganized, stupid thais who apparently don't know how to do anything right"... interesting!

I do not see the ability to organize sleze and corruption to be a big plus.

[Nuddy]

My Thai family took me to a Beach down that way once.

It was my first time.

I had lived in Australia most of my life.

I was astounded that we had 500 metres of umbrellas on the Thai beach. I started to think why are we at the beach?

However with limited Thai and my family having limited english we sat under the umbrellas for a fee.

We got food and drink delivered to us but i couldn't actually see the waves on the beach due to the umbrellas.

We all got upset stomachs/diarreara due to the contaminated and very expensive food.

If thats going to the beach in Thailand then I give up on it.

Regards

[hiller]

Democracy is so overrated....nothing better than a (mostly) benevolent dictatorship to clean up the mess....so far, it seems good

Benevolent Dictatorship is a Urban Legend. Not in history has one turned into anything good. Tito came close, but no cigar.

[pasak]

Luckily I can bring my own sun bed, as sittin' in the sand SUCKS

If you arrive on a bicycle with a beach mat and your own food and drink then there's no need to subscribe to this nonsense.

Get a few black stares from vendors and sun lounger bums but then winding up those that are out to stitch you is all part of the fun.

[StealthEnergiser]

Great work again PM keep it up you are slowly making thailand a little more tourist friendly

Please don't forget the jet ski mafia they have done more damage to tourism in thailand than is being spoken about .

please ban them off every beach they will never stop their extortion tactics.

It was previously mentioned on one of these forums that Jet ski mafia own the police please don't let them control the army the same way.

[chinostar]

Well done Prayuth!! A mayor who sells state property for his own benefit belongs in jail after he returned all the profits to state coffers. That would set a new standard to CORRUPTION.

[Acharn]

but the other side tourist need sun beds and umbrellas. so someone have to rent.

I'm not a sun and sand kind of guy. I prefer mountains or forests to the seaside. 43 years ago I was stationed at the Army camp, Camp Samae San, at Sattahip. In the American military, the Army operates the sea ports. We also operated the trucks that distributed supplies to all the Air Force bases in Thailand.

Anyway, Camp Samae San had an absolutely marvelous white sand beach, at least half a mile long, probably longer. There was not one sun bed, not one umbrella there. Recently, my extended family took me down to Sattahip, because one of the nephews is in the Royal Thai Navy down there, and we went to the beach. This one is owned by the Navy and is a public beach, no charge, free parking. It was crowded, but is a beautiful white sand beach. Not one sunbed or umbrella on the beach. I've seen sunbeds at Pattaya and never understood why people paid for them. Throw a blanket down on the sand and roast to your heart's content. I've never been to Phuket, and expect never to go.