Prayut defends land sale

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday asked reporters to stop digging into and criticising his family's 600-million-baht land sale, saying the plots belonged to him since he was little.

A bird's eye view of the plots in Bang Bon sold by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's family. (File photo by Pattarachai Prechapanich)

"What's the problem? The buyer is not stupid. They won't buy anything they can't invest further. The land belonged to me since I was a child as I lived with my father. So what's the deal?"

When asked about the buyer of the land, of which major shareholder had a British Virgin Islands address, Gen Prayut said: "It's the company's business so go ask it. I've nothing to do with it."

Col Prapat Chan-o-cha, Gen Prayut's father, sold nine plots totalling 50 rai in Bangkok's Bang Bon district to 69 Property Co Ltd on May 9, 2013, seven days after the company was registered, according to Isara News Agency, which quoted official documents.

The major shareholder of the company when the deal took place had a British Virgin Islands address, Isara News said, citing the Business Development Department's data.

After a capital increase, the major shareholder now is the company linked to Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, a liquor and property billionaire.

The other point that has been raised online about Gen Prayut's disclosure has nothing to do with the land sale but the assets he had in addition to it.

Gen Prayut got his share of the land sale of 146.5 million baht, including interest.

However, he gave his daughters 198.5 million baht and still had assets worth 128 million baht remaining. This means even without the land sale, he already had assets worth 180 million baht.