Probe into PM's controversial land to be sped up

"I will not prolong the outcome of the probe although I am not in a position to say whether it can be concluded before the general election," he said.

The investigation was prompted by the general debate on Surayud Chulanont's Khao Yai Thiang plot on Wednesday. Lawmakers claimed encroachment on the reserve land.

Yongyuth said the ruling on the Surayud case might take some time even after it was put on a fasttrack because of a backlog of 23,000 encroachment cases nationwide.

 In 1998, the Cabinet issued a resolution granting a temporary permission for squatters from being evicted until authorities could determine whether they had settled on the land before or after the zoning of respective forest reserves. Those settlements before the zoning could remain intact unless locating on the watershed areas.