Decision on former consul deferred
Public prosecutors yesterday deferred a decision on whether to prosecute a former honorary consul of Morocco, his wife and other suspects for allegedly encroaching on public land in Phang Nga, citing the large amount of evidence still to be examined.
"We also have to wait for the investigation report on another case against them to decide whether to combine all pending cases against them into one," said Wongsakun Kittiprommawong, a chief prosecutor at the Office of the Attorney-General. The suspects are Tan Tekhai, aka "Valentino", former honorary consul of Morocco for Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi provinces; his wife Sudjai Khiriporn, honorary consul of Djibouti to Thailand; Krajang Khiriporn; Boonlert Khiriporn; Phuket Chamber of Commerce vice chairman Tan Chi Kiang, or Chi Kiang sae Tang; and Chi Kiang Phuket Fisheries Co Ltd. It is unclear how the three Khiriporns are related. Tan Tekhai and Tan Chi Kiang are Malaysian nationals. Tan Tekhai and Tan Chi Kiang allegedly bought 52 plots of mountain land from locals in Phang Nga's Koh Yao district between 1988 and 1991 and had land-right documents for these plots issued illegally. Since the plots, with an area of more 1,000 rai, are located on mountains, they are in fact designated as public land. After obtaining the land-right documents, the suspects allegedly used nine of the plots as collateral to secure bank loans - through links with bank executives - of a much higher amount than the plots' actual value. An informed source said the suspects had never repaid the loans, and the principal plus accrued interest owed now stood at about Bt3 billion.
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