Just days before leaving office as deputy interior minister last September, Chada Thaised of the Bhumjaithai Party dropped a bombshell over the decades-old Alpine land saga.
The move by the coalition party senior figure now threatens to unseat Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, according to analysts.
On September 3, Chada signed an order to reinstate the Land Department’s 2001 decision revoking the title deeds issued for a 924-rai (148-hectare) plot in Pathum Thani province.
The plot was originally donated to a Buddhist temple but had been transferred into private hands via title deed. The revocation decision had been overruled in 2001 by acting Interior Ministry permanent secretary Yongyuth Wichaidit.
Yongyuth went on to serve as leader of the now-ruling Pheu Thai Party between 2008 and 2012. However, in 2017 he was sentenced to two years in prison after the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases found him guilty of malfeasance for overruling the original decision.
Chada’s order led to the nullification of the title deeds on January 16, which will be duly executed by the Land Department.
Decades-old controversy
The contentious plot, which is now occupied by the Alpine Golf Club and a housing estate, was left to a temple in Prachuap Khiri Khan province by a wealthy woman named Neum Chamnanchartsakda following her death in 1971.
However, the plot was transferred to a company with links to a powerful politician in 1990. It ended up in the hands of the prime minister’s family when her father, Thaksin, reportedly bought it for 500 million baht in 2000.
Shortly before she became prime minister last August, Paetongtarn transferred her 224.1-million-baht stake in Alpine Golf and Sport Club Co Ltd – which owns the property – to her mother, Khunying Potjaman Na Pombejra. Potjaman now owns a 40% stake in the company, with the remaining 60% divided equally between her other two children – son Panthongtae and daughter Pintongta.
Thaksin recently insisted that his family had purchased the property in good faith and deserved compensation if the Land Department revoked their ownership. However, critics have threatened to take legal action against the prime minister, accusing her of breaching the Constitution by grabbing temple land.
A difficult childhood
Chada was born on June 7, 1961, in the northern province of Uthai Thani to a wealthy Muslim family. However, his childhood was marred by the violent deaths of his parents and elder brother.
His father, Decha, was shot dead over a business conflict when Chada was just seven. When Chada was 14, his mother Palee was also murdered. His elder brother Chaiyos, who took over the family business after their father’s death, was killed eight months after their mother’s murder.
Forced to become the family breadwinner at a young age, Chada completed his secondary education through informal learning. He later earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science at Ramkhamhaeng University.
After taking over the family business as a teenager, Chada quickly made a name for himself in his hometown by standing up to powerful local figures. Over the following decades, his business expanded to construction, mining, hotels, and real estate.
In 1992, he entered local politics after being elected to the municipal council of Uthai Thani. Three years later, he was elected mayor of the municipality.
He graduated to national politics in 2007, entering Parliament as a Chart Thai Party MP for his home province.
After Chart Thai was dissolved for electoral fraud in 2008, Chada joined its successor, Chartthai Pattana, and was reelected in the 2011 general election.
Viewed as influential figure
After the 2014 military coup, Chada was targeted by the NCPO junta as an influential local figure. His home in Uthai Thani was searched in 2017 amid a crackdown on organised crime. After finding nothing suspicious at his property, police shifted their attention to Chada’s entourage.
His bodyguards were arrested for drugs possession and carrying firearms without a permit, but no evidence was found against Chada.
In 2018, Chada switched his allegiance to the Bhumjaithai Party and was reelected as an MP for his home province in the 2019 and 2023 general elections.
He served as a Bhumjaithai deputy leader between October 2018 and March last year. After the party joined the Pheu Thai-led coalition government of Srettha Thavisin in September 2023, Chada was appointed deputy interior minister, serving in the post until September 6 last year, when he was replaced by his daughter Sabida.
Chada was charged in three separate cases with masterminding murders in 2002, 2003, and 2011, but was eventually acquitted on all counts.
