A sordid tale of Phuket's land office

vital evidence: DSI investigator Wannachai Phromrak delivers case notes to police relating to how Thawatchai Anukul was treated before his death.

Two days after he handed a report to the Phuket governor outlining endemic corruption in the local Land Office, Pongsathorn Hiranburana, 47, was found shot dead in his car on a road in Surat Thani.

He was murdered on April 25, 2003, after completing an investigation requested by governor Pongpayome Wasabhutito into the office.

Murmurs about corruption at the Phuket Land Office were reaching a crescendo, and Pongsathorn had discovered ownership papers for land worth 600 million baht were issued illegally. He also found out that 3,000 rai of land in Phuket sold by entrepreneurs to people in Bangkok was public land and that the ownership papers were suspect.

One person police investigators wanted to talk to over the murder was former Phuket Land Office registrar Thawatchai Anukul, who died in mysterious circumstances on Tuesday morning while in the custody of the DSI in Bangkok after being on the run for over a decade.

But 13 years ago, Thawatchai was nowhere to be found in Phuket, Thailand or Malaysia where he was suspected to have fled. He had resigned from his job on April 1 after being implicated in corrupt land deals and simply disappeared. He was also wanted by the Surat Thani court after failing to show up for a verdict in a corruption case.

Even by the extraordinary standards of corruption in Thailand, Thawatchai's survival in any official capacity with the Land Office is beyond belief.

In 2010, the National Anti-Corruption Commission said it would pursue criminal charges against Thawatchai and a well-known Phuket businessman over encroachment cases dating back to 1997.

The commission ruled Thawatchai, while the Phuket Land Office registrar, was at fault for gross dereliction of duty, criminal misuse of power and document forgery after issuing title deeds to prominent land developer Boonkeng Srisansuchart in 2001.

Mr Boonkeng had applied for eight Chanote titles based on a single Sor Khor 1 title deed covering over 362 rai, but the NACC found a survey of the land specified in the document revealed it to be state forest. Four of the titles were eventually annulled or ruled invalid.

Four months after his disappearance, the Land Department filed a complaint against Thawatchai and his associates for allegedly forging land documents for 10 plots involving more than 400 rai in Phuket and Phangnga provinces.

An investigating panel claimed forged land ownership documents were issued for two plots covering 65 rai in tambon Karon in Phuket to local businessman Phantong Na Ranong. Details in Sor Khor 1 documents had also been allegedly altered to increase the size of six plots in Tai Muang district, Phangnga, where Thawatchai was transferred under suspicion of corruption, from 48 rai to 264 rai.

Invalid Sor Khor 1 land papers had also been changed to title deeds, to claim ownership over new plots covering 98 rai in Phuket. Genuine land ownership documents had also gone missing from the land office.

Police said corrupt land officials were demanding 1.5 million to 3 million baht for the fake and altered land documents.

Police also speculated at the time that Thawatchai had been killed to prevent them getting to the "mastermind" of the Pongsathorn murder. Another theory was that Thawatchai had disappeared after the Pongsathorn shooting as he was afraid he would be killed by a prominent Phuket figure who had ordered the execution.

By 2008, titles issued in 2001 and 2002 covering 4,000 plots issued while Thawatchai was registrar of the Phuket Land Office were under investigation. Many of the titles covered prime real estate and luxury resorts and hotels in Phuket.

Three of Thawatchai's land office colleagues were eventually convicted over the corruption charges.

In 2006, former land office chief Bunchoo Limraksasin was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty on 10 counts of demanding bribes for land titles between Dec 21, 2001, and March 8, 2003. He was released earlier this year after winning an appeal against the conviction. Uru Thipthep of the Kathu District Land Office is still in jail, while Meena Kalra has completed a seven-year sentence after being convicted on conspiracy to commit fraud.

Thawatchai was arrested on Monday at a hairdressers in Nonthaburi, three days before the statute of limitations on the corruption charges against him was due to expire.

His brother Chainarong Anukul has raised concerns over his death while in DSI custody. The DSI originally claimed Thawatchai had hanged himself with his socks or shirt, but an initial examination determined he died from a ruptured liver and asphyxiation. Mr Chainarong is not making further comment until a full autopsy is conducted. Reporters said that when Thawatchai was taken to the DSI office he was smiling and relaxed and said he would apply for bail.

If it is eventually proven Thawatchai did not commit suicide, local media has speculated that motives for his killing might include those who have the most to lose from corrupt land deals. Up to 1,000 Phuket land titles with an estimated value of more than 10 billion baht could be challenged or invalidated.

Prominent Phuket business people have also been mentioned as having possible motives for silencing Thawatchai for fear he could testify against them.