Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said yesterday he would file a libel suit against Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Promphan for saying a mob had been arranged to block the Opposition party from going into a plot of land his son owns in Koh Samui.
Suthep said if Jatuporn said the Democrat Party had mobilised the mob, he would take him to the court. "Because he lied. I have already cleared the allegation in the censure debate and in the media many times,'' he said.
He said his son Taen had already checked before buying to determine if the land had lawful title deeds and had owned the block since 2001. There had been attempts to scrutinise land ownership twice by the Pheu Thai Party.
Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the Opposition team appointed to check on ownership of the block was followed by a motorcycle taxi gang from Samui airport and was threatened they would face a charge of illegal invasion if they entered Taen's land.
He said the incident happened despite the fact the party sought cooperation from Deputy Interior Minister Taworn Senniam to check on the land. A mob had been mobilisation by local community radio stations to get people from Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani's Muang District to block the team.
Prompong said an initial inspection found that the 60-rai plot was located more than 200 metres above mean sea level, which meant land title deeds could not be issued. He said a 25-rai plot bordering Taen's land belonging to Thoop Poopaiboon, who also did not have a land title deed.
He said the Opposition team was threatened that their hotel would be burnt down, which forced them to sneak out of the hotel to stay somewhere else.
A two-metre deep hole had also been dug on the road towards Taen's land to prevent the team's vehicles from getting to the plot.
He called on PM Abhisit Vejjajiva to revoke the land ownership, saying the Opposition believed the case was similar to land owned" by former PM Surayud Chulanont at Khao Yai Thiang.
He claimed Suthep used his son as nominee to own the land. If Abhisit failed to take legal action, the party would will file a complaint with the National Counter Corruption Commission to take the PM to task.