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

[jaywalker]

I don't have a problem with the people who worked the beach. They provided facilities and services to the benefit of the community. These services are often legally contracted by cities to private individuals at beach towns all over the world. The problem arose when the benefit failed to reach the community but was siphoned off by a crooked politician. How long will it be before the hotel managers pressure the governments to issue usage permits to private concerns to bring the beach chairs and umbrellas back?

I agree that, to a point, beach vendors are pretty handy when I go to the beach, be it Daytona, Koh Larn or even Zanvoort Am Zee in Holland.

BUT, in Daytona, if you want to rent an umbrella, the vendor keeps them folded & will charge you X number of $$ to use it for the day. He'll come and set it up for you. You might have people a few yards away.......it's public property......NO PROBLEM!

In Pattaya or Jomtien, they set up 99% of the beach under umbrellas, and space the chairs a whopping 1/2 inch (1 cm) apart.

Never once in Holland, Spain, Australia, USA, have I been HOUNDED by some retard wanting to sell me something every 8.6 seconds.

Pattaya & Jomtien beaches are a DISASTER due to the inconsiderate, probably illiterate fishermen that throw all & sundry overboard, plus the Laam Chabang port is nearby.

I've no idea really who is tossing all this garbage in the sea really, but SOMETHING needs to be done.

Koh Larn used to be really nice 13-14 years ago when I first hit the shores there in 2001.

Nobody was there on the beaches except a few squatters that had eked out a living.

I met a Mr. Paam & always hung out near his house. His wife made great food & they had cold drinks.

Chair rental was 20 baht with umbrella. Hardly a soul there.

Here came the BIB though.

I went back a couple years later & they had shut him down for not paying his tea money, as I understood it.

They had a 1 year old grandson they couldn't afford milk for, as the BIB wouldn't let them operate without the bribes.

Mr. Paam was a basket case at this point, staying DRUNK all the time, but his wife was cool & level-headed.

I gave her 8,000 baht (all I had with me almost) for the kid.

Next time I went Mr. Paam was open again, & I ran up a 1,000 baht or so bill, as I normally do on Koh Larn.

My money was no good to him then. I went to pay my bill, & he said, "Bill? What bill?" He did the same on my next 5 or 6 visits. All the beer, food, chair rental - ZERO charge for me.

Sadly both he & his wife have passed on these days, but Mr. Paam's nephew, Mr. Song runs that section of Haad Samae & he's a super nice guy.

Song speaks GREAT English also. He spent a whole day just shooting the breeze/chatting with me, as he was a little kid when I helped out w/ the 8,000 baht. I'd guess he's maybe 28 or 30 now.

They're really nice, and as far as I know, honest.

They're located right in the middle of Haad Samae.

Ask for Mr. Song

Edited September 26, 2014 by jaywalker

[Keesters]

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

It will never happen. TIT

Cynic.

What you say may be true of previous times in Thailand but this new government seems sincere enough to clean up the mess. No previous government did. Give them a chance to follow through with proper and just punishments.

This is the NEW Thailand...Long may it last.

[Keesters]

In Pattaya or Jomtien, they set up 99% of the beach under umbrellas, and space the chairs a whopping 1/2 inch (1 cm) apart.

Of which the majority stay empty all day.

[jaywalker]

I just had an epiphany.

WHY was Koh Larn so laid back before the BIB mafia came in?

There was no money to be extorted from the squatters on Koh Larn until they opened that travesty of a pier called Bali Hai, & next the ruble gets strong & Koh Larn is flooded with baht.

That's when the BIB got involved & probably, due to that, the squatter/vendors had no choice but to put up a gazillion beach beds & umbrellas on every speck of dirt.

Just a thought.

[mike324]

anyone dare touch the mayor who signed these false documents? i hope so ...

[jaywalker]

I just recalled a few cool memories of Mr. Paam.

One time he had a speedboat skipper/friend that gave us both a ride back to Pattaya for free. I was (still am married) to a Surin lady that hates the sun, so she was at home.

She made us a nice dinner & Mr. Paam spent the night on the couch. The next day he took us all around Sri Racha & showed both of us some really cool stuff. This was a few years BEFORE I ever gave his wife any charity money.

He also would get a speedboat to take me back to Pattaya for free maybe 3 or 4 times.....The guy was going that way anyhow.

"No! No! You no pay taxi! You no go ferry! Take long time! You go my my friend me. It's OK. Free for you!" with a giant smile.

He was really nice guy.

[jaywalker]

anyone dare touch the mayor who signed these false documents? i hope so ...

The Patong Mayor?

I read about some mayor getting tossed in jail a few weeks ago down there.

They had a picture of him cuffed in a police truck here on TV (I think).

If I'm not mistaken that'd be who you are referring to.

Then again, I might be wrong.

[Stray]

This has been going on for how many years?

Welcome to Thailand. Please do not trip over the elephant sitting in the middle of the room.

[BlackJack]

Pattaya sooooooon?

[media]

I heard that on Phuket they are not letting tourists lay out their own towel on the sand to lay on?

Surely that cant be true?

[inzman]

The bigwigs will never spend any jail time or be convicted of anything, it's all for show. The little guy will pay the price to show the public someone is convicted. It's a shame, but after all the publicity everything will return to normal. Nothing will have changed, so don't get your hope up. TIT, get used to it.

[cekipa]

I heard that on Phuket they are not letting tourists lay out their own towel on the sand to lay on?

Surely that cant be true?

This is Patong Beach now

[Kevin2012]

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.

Singapore

[merijn]

I heard that on Phuket they are not letting tourists lay out their own towel on the sand to lay on?

Surely that cant be true?

This is Patong Beach now

At last a nice and clean beach.

[Evolare]

4000baht fine yeah that sounds painful...not considering how much they can make in one day! Well I hope they never come back it was quite nice with all of them gone.

[smotherb]

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

Yeah, a towel is simply not enough; you'll need a roof, a bathroom, and maybe even a/c too. Why not just stay home with a picture of the beach if sitting in the sand is a problem?

[phanangpete]

The reason why the Courts will find them guilty and issue a sentence, which they will not serve, is because they have no room in the prisons !

I think for handiness purposes they should build a new complex just outside Patong beach, and the numbers on remand sorry that should be bail will fill it easy !

Handy for visitors , and nipping out to the local 7/11 etc.

[Thai at Heart]

They haven't found a foreigner to pin this on yet?

Amazing....

[phanangpete]

anyone dare touch the mayor who signed these false documents? i hope so ...

The Patong Mayor?

I read about some mayor getting tossed in jail a few weeks ago down there.

They had a picture of him cuffed in a police truck here on TV (I think).

If I'm not mistaken that'd be who you are referring to.

Then again, I might be wrong.

Was that not the Deputy Mayor , who when they checked one of his bank accounts he had 33 million baht in it.

I doubt he's in jail, no news on him since the army arrested him !

[mike324]

anyone dare touch the mayor who signed these false documents? i hope so ...

The Patong Mayor?

I read about some mayor getting tossed in jail a few weeks ago down there.

They had a picture of him cuffed in a police truck here on TV (I think).

If I'm not mistaken that'd be who you are referring to.

Then again, I might be wrong.

Was that not the Deputy Mayor , who when they checked one of his bank accounts he had 33 million baht in it.

I doubt he's in jail, no news on him since the army arrested him !

this goes back to a couple of mayors not just the most recent or previous ones too, anyhow what happen to that mayor that was in the news and implicated for running a mafia? arrests seem like they are just for show, hope they get their day in court

[LivinginKata]

One unhelpful post removed, and one off topic post removed, plus all the replies removed.

[Tim7]

So finally the tiger mouth…….the whole Southern Beaches was controlled run by mafias for decades and nobody could do anything….this guys were untouchable.Like it or not the army has cleaned things up and hopefully Thailand will in par with other ASEAN countries in particular and we as an expat have never been proud of living here in Thailand….Bravo Pracha-On. Keep it up

[Felixthecat]

Seems like the military are really cleaning up all the scumbags mostly in the resort areas of LOS.....i'm sure there's more too come i say!

[iamariva1957]

All of Thailand is the HUB of BROWN BAG...UNDER THE TABLE CORRUPTION! There are more Mafia here than in the Godfather series of movies.

If only there were just "5 Families"! But liked the chairs... I just hope that they will stay but the money collected goes into Public Funds (whatever that means here in Thailand!)? But hay, go get'em and clean the mafia out. But military remember... stones and glass houses.

[Jonmarleesco]

'... Yutthana was sentenced to six months in jail and fined B4,000 ...' With several million baht involved, what effect will such trivial sums have on operators?

[capt_canada42]

what about Nai Harn beach it was crooked also

[belg]

make millions with illegal activities, and the sentence is .... hold on .... 4000 baht ... and halved for pleading guilty....

wow ... real deterrent

Edited September 28, 2014 by belg

[jcisco]

Without writing a huge response, excuse the awkwardness :: I agree with the point you have made, however, If the paperwork indicates cash moved and avoided the civic purse, and the parties were intended by some measure to gain illicitly this can bring the vendor into the criminal arena.

I am interested to see a detailed timeline on granting of beach space over time and who and with the development of beachfront property. In most councils announcements for bids, tenders and or interest should of been apart of the due process stemming from a resolution on the matter.

If the police cannot identifying the resolution or bylaw from, or the accepted like here in Thailand, gives rather strong indications to at least the involved servants intent on the matter.

Wade72 raises a rational point. The “discovery” by investigators about the money involved in the renting out of beach space on Karon and Kata beaches may not be as scandalous as it seems.

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

“… 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.”

In this case the “Municipality would allocate a sunbed operator space in front of the resort.” It would seem that if the Municipality does have authority (either explicit or implicit by the lack of such prohibition), is transparent about the transactions (ie., public notice, municipal council review), and follows proper public procurement procedures (ie., competitive bidding, fair value), then such transaction should be treated as legal. If the Mayor keeps the transaction secret, has a conflict of interest with operators/hotel owners, and/or embezzles the receipts, he has probably committed one or more criminal offenses but that does not incriminate the transaction.

Having an exclusive legal license, the sunbed operator is then within his legal right to transact with the adjacent hotel for exclusive right to the operator services for which a fee would be proper. If the operator has a conflict of interest with the hotel, and/or fails to report income for tax purposes, he has probably committed one or more criminal offenses but that does not incriminate the transaction.

The Municipality can choose now not to renew such licenses (cancellation may result in costly breach of contract to the operators and lawsuits by the hotels). But obviously, the hotel owners and their guests might be upset for the lack of sunbed services (perhaps even advertised by the hotels to attract bookings) that might result in future lost bookings.

Before the law enforcement authorities get too far ahead of themselves, they should examine the whole picture before charging people and hotel owners with breaches of law. If corruption is pursued frivolously, driven by a mindset for accolades, the enforcement body becomes ethically and morally broken.

[louse1953]

2000 BHT FINE AND 3 MONTHS IN JAIL (suspended sentence) That's a real though sentence!!!

If it had been a farang it would have been 10yrs in jail and confiscation of all properties !!

That's what I call double standards

But it wasn't a farang because we are law abiding citizens,take your dreams and farang hating elsewhere.