Police reveal how Phuket's public beaches were rented out - for billions

[smotherb 6,143]

Luckily I can bring my own sun bed, as sittin' in the sand SUCKS

Yeah, a towel is simply not enough; you'll need a roof, a bathroom, and maybe even a/c too. Why not just stay home with a picture of the beach if sitting in the sand is a problem?

[phanangpete 87]

The reason why the Courts will find them guilty and issue a sentence, which they will not serve, is because they have no room in the prisons !

I think for handiness purposes they should build a new complex just outside Patong beach, and the numbers on remand sorry that should be bail will fill it easy !

Handy for visitors , and nipping out to the local 7/11 etc.

[Thai at Heart 17,307]

They haven't found a foreigner to pin this on yet?

Amazing....

[phanangpete 87]

anyone dare touch the mayor who signed these false documents? i hope so ...

The Patong Mayor?

I read about some mayor getting tossed in jail a few weeks ago down there.

They had a picture of him cuffed in a police truck here on TV (I think).

If I'm not mistaken that'd be who you are referring to.

Then again, I might be wrong.

Was that not the Deputy Mayor , who when they checked one of his bank accounts he had 33 million baht in it.

I doubt he's in jail, no news on him since the army arrested him !

[mike324 2,388]

anyone dare touch the mayor who signed these false documents? i hope so ...

The Patong Mayor?

I read about some mayor getting tossed in jail a few weeks ago down there.

They had a picture of him cuffed in a police truck here on TV (I think).

If I'm not mistaken that'd be who you are referring to.

Then again, I might be wrong.

Was that not the Deputy Mayor , who when they checked one of his bank accounts he had 33 million baht in it.

I doubt he's in jail, no news on him since the army arrested him !

this goes back to a couple of mayors not just the most recent or previous ones too, anyhow what happen to that mayor that was in the news and implicated for running a mafia? arrests seem like they are just for show, hope they get their day in court

[LivinginKata 9,183]

One unhelpful post removed, and one off topic post removed, plus all the replies removed.

[Tim7 3]

So finally the tiger mouth…….the whole Southern Beaches was controlled run by mafias for decades and nobody could do anything….this guys were untouchable.Like it or not the army has cleaned things up and hopefully Thailand will in par with other ASEAN countries in particular and we as an expat have never been proud of living here in Thailand….Bravo Pracha-On. Keep it up

[Felixthecat 82]

Seems like the military are really cleaning up all the scumbags mostly in the resort areas of LOS.....i'm sure there's more too come i say!

[iamariva1957 385]

All of Thailand is the HUB of BROWN BAG...UNDER THE TABLE CORRUPTION! There are more Mafia here than in the Godfather series of movies.

If only there were just "5 Families"! But liked the chairs... I just hope that they will stay but the money collected goes into Public Funds (whatever that means here in Thailand!)? But hay, go get'em and clean the mafia out. But military remember... stones and glass houses.

[Jonmarleesco 2,802]

'... Yutthana was sentenced to six months in jail and fined B4,000 ...' With several million baht involved, what effect will such trivial sums have on operators?

[capt_canada42 35]

what about Nai Harn beach it was crooked also

[belg 1,544]

make millions with illegal activities, and the sentence is .... hold on .... 4000 baht ... and halved for pleading guilty....

wow ... real deterrent

Edited September 28, 2014 by belg

[jcisco 392]

Without writing a huge response, excuse the awkwardness :: I agree with the point you have made, however, If the paperwork indicates cash moved and avoided the civic purse, and the parties were intended by some measure to gain illicitly this can bring the vendor into the criminal arena.

I am interested to see a detailed timeline on granting of beach space over time and who and with the development of beachfront property. In most councils announcements for bids, tenders and or interest should of been apart of the due process stemming from a resolution on the matter.

If the police cannot identifying the resolution or bylaw from, or the accepted like here in Thailand, gives rather strong indications to at least the involved servants intent on the matter.

Wade72 raises a rational point. The “discovery” by investigators about the money involved in the renting out of beach space on Karon and Kata beaches may not be as scandalous as it seems.

Wade : “If the money had gone into public coffers in the first place there would be no corruption charges at this point.”

“… most municipal governments generally can issue permits, and charge for the permits, to operate businesses on public land when they can show it is in the publics interest.”

In this case the “Municipality would allocate a sunbed operator space in front of the resort.” It would seem that if the Municipality does have authority (either explicit or implicit by the lack of such prohibition), is transparent about the transactions (ie., public notice, municipal council review), and follows proper public procurement procedures (ie., competitive bidding, fair value), then such transaction should be treated as legal. If the Mayor keeps the transaction secret, has a conflict of interest with operators/hotel owners, and/or embezzles the receipts, he has probably committed one or more criminal offenses but that does not incriminate the transaction.

Having an exclusive legal license, the sunbed operator is then within his legal right to transact with the adjacent hotel for exclusive right to the operator services for which a fee would be proper. If the operator has a conflict of interest with the hotel, and/or fails to report income for tax purposes, he has probably committed one or more criminal offenses but that does not incriminate the transaction.

The Municipality can choose now not to renew such licenses (cancellation may result in costly breach of contract to the operators and lawsuits by the hotels). But obviously, the hotel owners and their guests might be upset for the lack of sunbed services (perhaps even advertised by the hotels to attract bookings) that might result in future lost bookings.

Before the law enforcement authorities get too far ahead of themselves, they should examine the whole picture before charging people and hotel owners with breaches of law. If corruption is pursued frivolously, driven by a mindset for accolades, the enforcement body becomes ethically and morally broken.

[louse1953 3,166]

2000 BHT FINE AND 3 MONTHS IN JAIL (suspended sentence) That's a real though sentence!!!

If it had been a farang it would have been 10yrs in jail and confiscation of all properties !!

That's what I call double standards

But it wasn't a farang because we are law abiding citizens,take your dreams and farang hating elsewhere.