Land Dept denies getting revocation order for land sold to Alpine

The Land Department issued a statement on Thursday denying reports that it had been ordered by a deputy interior minister to revoke the controversial sale of land that was later developed into Alpine Golf Course.

The statement came in response to earlier reports that Chada Thaised had ordered the revocation of the sale in 2002 while he was deputy interior minister, overseeing the Land Department.
This issue surfaced again recently when Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s 30% stake worth 224 million baht in the golf course came up for review. 

The Land Department said that the revocation of the sale approval issued by the then-acting permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry, Yongyuth Wichaidit, had not been sent to the department for implementation. 

The department further explained that the issue was still under deliberation by the Interior Ministry, based on the opinion of the Council of State and a court ruling that said the land was temple property and could not be sold. The Interior Ministry must issue a formal order to annul Yongyuth’s approval before the department can take action, it said. 

The department said it has been monitoring the issue but has yet to receive any formal order. 

Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, meanwhile, confirmed that Chada did sign an order revoking the land sale before he departed from office on August 14, 2024, when the tenure of Srettha Thavisin’s Cabinet ended.

However, Anutin noted that Chada did not have the authority to revoke the permanent secretary’s order, as this responsibility lies with Chamnarnwit Terat, the deputy permanent secretary of the Interior Ministry. 

Anutin added that Chamnarnwit should do this before he retires in September or face potential dereliction of duty charges. 

He emphasised that the Alpiine Golf Course issue was not a political conflict between his Bhumjaithai Party and the ruling Pheu Thai Party, even though the Alpine Golf and Sport Club Ltd and the Alpine Real Estate Ltd are linked to the Shinawatra family. 
The Alpine Golf Course controversy is a long-running scandal in Thailand centring on the sale of 924 rai of land belonging to Wat Thammikaram in Pathum Thani to Alpine Real Estate and Alpine Golf and Sport Club in 2002. Both companies are linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The sale was controversial because it was approved by Yongyuth despite objections from the Land Department, which argued that it violated a 1992 law prohibiting the sale of temple-owned land for non-religious purposes. 

Yongyuth, however, overruled the objections, citing a 1979 law that allowed the sale with Interior Ministry approval. Legal challenges and investigations have followed, with Yongyuth sentenced to two years in jail in 2012 for abuse of authority, though the sentence was later suspended. 

The temple’s abbot, meanwhile, has said that the temple earned interest from the money made from the land sale and had nothing to do with any actions related to this land. 

The land in question was donated to the temple in 1969 by Neum Chamnanchartsakda, a wealthy woman who had inherited it from her ancestors, who had been benefactors of the temple since its establishment in 1922.