Surayud accused of land grab

Suporn Atthawong, a member of United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, has filed a complaint that Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont and his wife were illegally occupying 21 rai of forest reserve land on Khao Yai Thieng hill in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sikhiu district.

Suporn said on 25/11/09 it was unfair General Surayud and his wife, Thanpuying Chitravadee, appeared to have been spared legal action by the Forest Department just as it was cracking down on other landowners in the Khao Yai Thieng area for alleged encroachment.

“This shows the inequality in our society,” said Suporn, a former MP for Nakhon Ratchasima. A source at the Forest Department said about 50 landowners were being targeted for legal action by the department, which claimed they had settled in the Khao Yai Thieng area after it was declared a protected forest.

The department’s latest survey showed more than 500 rai of land in the reserve had been illegally occupied.

General Surayud said his acquisition of the land on Khao Yai Thieng was legal and above board, and that he had regularly paid property taxes on the land.