Search Results for: sor por kor
- Phuket News
Land probe turns to tin mines
PHUKET: The Phuket land investigation moved into a new phase this morning when Phuket Provincial Land Office (PPLO) Chief Saroj Ninkhate went to the Governor’s office to present Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi with a list of 57 former tin mine concession land plots in Kathu now in the hands of private owners. The PPLO alleges that all were issued Chanote…
- Phuket News
Land activist denies Apec protest rumors
PHUKET TOWN: Land rights activist Uthai Suksirisamphan has strongly denied rumors that he would lead farmers holding SorPorKor 4-01 land papers in an anti-government demonstration during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings currently being held in Phuket. Speaking at a press conference at his Phanthep Land and House Co offices on Mae Luan Rd yesterday morning, K. Uthai confirmed that…
- Phuket News
New bus station gets green light
PHUKET TOWN: A new terminus for long-haul buses will be built on 10 rai of land near the Tesco-Lotus supercenter, Samroeng Chaisorn, Vice-President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), told the Gazette today. “Phuket OrBorJor will provide the 38-million-baht budget,” K. Samroeng said, adding that construction is expected to start in October, when the funds come through, though a…
- Phuket News
Island’s tourism tide turns
PHUKET: Latest airport arrival figures and resort occupancy rates indicate that Phuket’s tourism trade is recovering rapidly from the Sars scare, with some hotels already planning to hang up “House Full” signs soon. Official statistics for the first 10 days in August show that 8.7% more international visitors flew to Bangkok compared with the same period last year, an increase…
- Phuket News
Chalermlak to help evicted farmers
PHUKET: Democrat MP Chalermlak Kebsup says that she will closely examine the land scandal and help anyone who has been wrongly evicted from SorPorKor land. About 50 people who had been evicted were banding together to try to win their land back, she said on Saturday following her meeting with land rights activist Uthai Suksirisamphan. SorPorKor land was earmarked for…
- Phuket News
Farmers demand justice
PHUKET TOWN: More than 200 villagers gathered this morning to complain to Phuket Governer CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about land problems. The Provincial Administration Organization building was jammed with villagers, including farmers, planters and representatives of many communities who complained that, following the SorPorKor investigation, their land had been declared as encroaching on forest preserve areas – the so-called Zone C…
- Phuket News
“Illegal’ restaurant to be demolished
KALIM: A top police general today said a well-known restaurant just north of Patong occupies SorPorKor 4-01 land, and will have to be knocked down. The commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, Pol Lt Gen Chatt Kuldiloke was in Phuket to check on the land investigation work done by his officers, and visited the restaurant, the Suangsawan (Sunset Point Restaurant…
- Phuket News
Fugitive land officials “in the South’
BANGKOK (Kom Chad Luek/The Nation): Pol Maj Gen Pansiri Prapawat, Deputy Commissioner for General Investigation, has revealed that police believe two fugitive former land officials are hiding somewhere in the South. The two wanted men are Bunchoo Limraksasin, formerly an officer in the Kathu District Land Office who was subsequently posted to Ubon Ratchathani, and Thawatchai Anukul, former chief registrar…
- Phuket News
Land probe to cover all Thailand – Thaksin
BANGKOK: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today announced that the land investigation currently underway in Phuket will be widened to cover the entire country. Speaking to The Nation newspaper, he said, “Many SorPorKor titles were given to ‘important people’ – this was not the intent of the SorPorKor scheme. Legal cases brought against these people were weak, which is why the…
- Phuket News
Land probe targets influential people
PHUKET: Army surveyors have joined the land investigation headed by Pol Maj Gen Pansiri Prapawat, Deputy Commissioner for General Investigation. A team of surveyors arrived from Bangkok yesterday and began work this morning. Gen Pansiri, who is leading the task force examining land encroachment, and SorPorKor and tin mine concession abuses said this morning, “We have identified 22 pieces of…
- Phuket News
Anchalee slams “political games’
PHUKET: Phuket Democrat MP Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr today emphatically denied that she has any SorPorKor 4-01 land and branded the current land abuse investigation as being motivated purely by politics. At a press conference at her office, K. Anchalee singled out Newin Chidchob, Deputy Agriculture Minister, as being directly responsible for creating problems by misleading the press and the public by…
- Phuket News
Manit slams corruption allegations
PHUKET: Vice-Governor Manit Wattanasen has blasted newspapers that alleged he has been moved to Pattani province because of involvement in the ongoing land scandals. V/Gov Manit will take up his new post on June 23. Speaking with the Gazette this morning, he stressed that his transfer had come about because the government needed an urgent replacement for Sanchai Yaisawang, one…
- Phuket News
Second land probe launched
PHUKET: A senior police officer from Bangkok arrived in Phuket today to head up a second investigation into land registration abuses. Pol Maj Gen Pansiri Prapawat, Deputy Commissioner for General Investigation, has been ordered by Deputy Prime Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to look into cases of encroachment onto government land in Phuket. Gen Pansiri said today, “I’ve come to Phuket…
- Phuket News
Land paper probe begins
PHUKET: Thirty officers from the Agriculture Land Reform Deoartment (ALRD) in Bangkok started checking SorPorKor 4-01 land occupation papers this morning, and are expected to take about a week to compile a summary of their findings. Adisak Srisappakij, Permanent Secretary of the ALRD, told the Gazette after meeting with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi that the 30 officers would check all…
- Phuket News
Liberians held over “black money’ scam
PATONG: Two men are being held by police over a “black money” scam that cost three Thai victims a total of 330,000 baht. The arrested men, said to be from Liberia, in West Africa, were named as Anthony Brown, 27, and Christopher Alliston, 31. The classic scam involves promising a big pay-off in return for a “loan” to buy special…
- Phuket News
Top tourism forum set for Phuket
PHUKET: The 18-nation Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) is to hold a tourism business forum at the Laguna Beach Resort from May 22 to 24. The Ministry of Tourism and Sport, the Industry Council of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host the gathering. Two representatives from government and business in each country will discuss a number of issues…
- Phuket News
Yacht skipper blasts mob violence
THALANG: The skipper of a 30-meter superyacht has blasted villagers in the north of Phuket for “lawlessness” after a member of his crew was beaten up by a mob on Sunday evening, and was then forced to apologize to them for driving through their village too fast. After brushing aside security staff at the Yacht Haven marina, the mob of…
- Phuket News
Three nighttime venues raided
PHUKET TOWN: Three nighttime venues have been cited for violations after police officers, led by Vice Governor Niwat Wattanasen and Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, went on an inspection tour on Tuesday. The Sure Garden, in Soi Taling Chan, was ordered closed for 30 days because it was found to be serving customers under the…
- Phuket News
Patong Mayor forced to quit
PATONG: Members of the Patong Municipal Council have forced the resignation of the town’s Mayor, Pian Keesin, by rejecting his budget plan for the coming year. Pian lost by a vote of nine to two, the two being the mayor himself and Councillor Surasak Maneesri. Councillor Sakorn Cheua-yuan, who is secretary to local Member of Parliament Chalermlak Kebsab, said that…
- Phuket News
Boatman arrested for killing tourist in Krabi
KRABI: Police arrested a suspect this morning in connection with the murder of the 21-year-old German student, Cao Ghu, who disappeared Monday morning and was found floating face-down in the sea near Koh Gai two days later. Cao Ghu, who was Vietnamese by descent, was an Asian Culture major at Bonn University. She was visiting Thailand for the fourth time…
- Phuket News
Unpaid fornication hits “sex workers’
BANGKOK (AFP): The advent of casual sex is bad news for Thailand’s prostitutes who are going idle as their customers increasingly engage in pre-marital sexual relationships, according to a government report. The Ministry of Public Health said a study of 10,000 sex workers revealed each woman had on average only one customer a night, compared to an average of 1.5…
- Phuket News
Chuan to open major seminar in Phuket
PHUKET: Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai will open the 18th National Chamber of Commerce Seminar, which will take place in Phuket on February 3 and 4, hosted jointly by the Phuket Chamber of Commerce and Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC). The seminar, which is expected to draw about 150 participants representing chambers of commerce from across Thailand, will begin at 8:30…
- Phuket News
Corruption threatens elections
BANGKOK (AFP): Ambitious reforms launched to root out endemic corruption in Thai politics aim to ensure that the January 6 elections will be the cleanest in the kingdom’s history, observers say. But there are fears that with “cash democracy” and patronage politics still deeply entrenched in the country, Thailand is setting itself up for a chaotic aftermath to the ballot…
- Phuket News
General coy about new job as minister
PHUKET AIRPORT: Pol Gen Pracha Promnog was playing his cards close to his chest when he flew into Phuket today, just hours after resigning as Thailand’s Chief of Police amid announcements that he will be appointed Minister of Labor. Chart Pattana leader Korn Dabbarangsri, who is also a Deputy Prime Minister, announced on TV that Gen Pracha would be named…
- Phuket News
Standard and Poor’s doubtful about bank recoveries
BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai banks need a further injection of 863.5 billion baht (23.3 billion dollars) to restore solvency, global ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said in a report issued today. The report was critical of the high levels of bad loans as well as capital quality, and expressed doubts whether restructuring efforts are sustainable. “Thailand’s banking sector still requires…
- Phuket News
New Governor flies in tomorrow
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s new Governor, Charnchai Soontharamut, will arrive in Phuket tomorrow. He will be met at the airport by the province’s vice-governors and members of the local civil service before being whisked away on a tour of the island. But conspicuously absent from the airport greeting will be 60 of Phuket’s top movers and shakers. They leave tonight on…
- Phuket News
Taxi Driver Testifies In Murder Trial
Taxi Driver Testifies In Murder Trial PHUKET TOWN: A taxi driver testified in court today that he picked up murder suspect Kraisorn Kamnoun and another Thai male on the Patong-Karon Road one evening last December. Suwit Hemlek, a 34-year-old tuk tuk driver, was the first of two witnesses to testify this morning before Phuket Provincial Court Judge Amornpoj Kulwijit in…
- Phuket News
Hoteliers To Add 345 Rooms
KARON BEACH: Innkeepers on this popular stretch of beach are busily preparing new guest rooms as the high tourist season approaches. Karon’s newest hotel will debut next month with the planned grand opening of the Phuket Sukpracha Resort. Located on Patak Road near the Karon Circle, the 200 million baht project includes 196 guest rooms, a shopping arcade, a Thai…