Influential rubber planter in land encroachment probe

The DSI on Thursday arrested Kitti "Kho Kiew" Chamnanwat, 45, president of Ratchaburi's Rubber and Palm Plantations Coop, on a charge of encroaching on 2,972 rai of ratchaphatsadu land (land confiscated because of neglect) in Suan Phueng district.

Office of Consumer Protection and Environment Cases chief Sansern Palawatwichai said yesterday that the subsequent house search had yielded documents related to rights over the state land and the buying and selling of it. The DSI will probe how the plots became state property, he said.

The DSI investigation also found that Kitti had encroached on some 300 more rai of state land, so the agency contacted the army unit in charge of such land to file an additional complaint against the suspect, he added.

DSI investigator Colonel Pravuth Wongsinil said the court had refused bail to Kitti, currently detained at the Bangkok Special Prison, as requested by the DSI |and 1st Army Area on the ground that Kitti had threatened local residents.

Kitti reportedly told DSI officials that he had taken workers from refugee shelters to clear the state land and plant it with rubber because he did not want to see it deteriorate. Pravuth said the taped recording of this interview would be used as evidence against him.

A source at the DSI said that Kitti was a local influential person with a connection to former Democrat Party MP Sitthiporn Kham-art, convicted of the murder of the mother of former Democrat MP Khomkhai Polabutr.

The source said Kitti had made millions of baht from selling the encroached state land, one plot for Bt28 million to build a resort on. Most of his customers were from the South and when arrested claimed they did not know they were taking over state land and had bought or rented it from other persons, the source said, whereas in reality they had had it cleared for cash crops knowing they could not own or rent it.

The DSI is gathering evidence and investigating state officials who allowed refugees to work outside the shelter, the source said.

The 1st Army Area will use the 2,972 rai and all structures built there as a training ground, the source said.