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A Briton and his Thai wife have asked the Crime
Suppression Division to take action against the operator of a passenger van
queue in Bangkok and his aides who allegedly assaulted them over a land deal
on a resort island in Trat.
Rattana Niamsoongnern, 32, and her
husband Dawell Waito, 45, yesterday lodged a complaint with CSD chief Pol
Maj-Gen Pongpat Chayaphan against Pornnathee Trakulsrisook, 40, a Bangkok
resident and operator of a passenger van queue at the southern bus terminal.
Mrs Rattana said she and her husband
had used money from the sale of their assets in England in developing a 500
square wah block of land on Koh Chang into a resort hotel named Backpacker,
under a 30 year lease.
In May, Mr Pornnathee contacted her and
expressed an interest in buying the resort, for which she set the price at
10 million baht.
The price was later brought down to 5.5
million baht when Mr Pornnathee said he could only afford to pay that much.
A few days later, Mr Pornnathee paid
her 100,000 baht as a down payment. Under the deal, the couple would have to
transfer the business operating rights only after the buyer had made the
full payment.
But in August, Mr Pornnathee took 10 of
his aides with him to stay at the resort, even though he had yet to make the
full payment.
During his stay he tried repeatedly to
pressure the couple to lower the price to just four million baht.
Mrs Rattana said her family felt
intimidated by Mr Pornnathee and his men.
Last Saturday , Mr Pornnathee and three
of his aides, armed with wooden batons and bottles, assaulted Mrs Rattana,
her husband and his younger brother, according to the complaint.
Mrs Rattana also accused Mr Pornnathee
of saying that the attack was just a warning for their refusal to transfer
the resort business to him.
The couple then turned to the local
tourism police for help, who took them to file a complaint at the Koh Chang
police station. But instead of helping them, police just suggested they
negotiate with Mr Pornnathee, she said.
Pol Maj-Gen Pongpat said a team of
investigators from Bangkok would be sent to Koh Chang to look into the
complaint.
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