Democrat deputy leader says Phuket official transfers miss root of Freedom Beach influence case
A Democrat Party deputy leader says the transfer of Phuket officials over the Freedom Beach controversy does not solve the underlying problem and has called for investigations into land, money-laundering and alleged mafia influence.
Democrat Party deputy leader Chaiyachana Detdecho said the transfer of senior Phuket provincial officials does not address the root problem in allegations involving influential figures at Freedom Beach, urging the government instead to strictly enforce the law and investigate financial trails linked to the case.
Speaking on June 18, 2026, Chaiyachana, a party-list MP and deputy leader of the Democrat Party, addressed Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul over the handling of influential figures at Freedom Beach and elsewhere in Phuket. He said transferring officials was only a late-stage response, while the government should move faster on fact-finding and legal action.
He said complaints had come from the public and from a Phuket MP from the People's Party, and called for strict enforcement against the influential figure in question. He referred to the revocation of two land title deeds covering 15 rai at Freedom Beach, but said benefits were still being collected from the beach.
Chaiyachana said the prime minister should examine which state officials may have been involved and whether any agencies had already investigated the influential figure. He said the inquiry should go beyond possible criminal offenses to include money-laundering investigations and checks on whether assets had been legally acquired.
He argued that the transfers of the Phuket governor and deputy governor were not in themselves punishment, saying such moves were on the same administrative level in several cases. He said that moving a deputy governor from Phuket to Nakhon Si Thammarat still left that official with similar administrative authority.
He said that if wrongdoing were proven, a clearer penalty would be a move into an inspector role without operational assignment, but described the current reshuffle as only a change on the same level with no real effect.
Chaiyachana also said the government should focus on whether authorities had dealt with reported death threats against a People's Party MP, and whether encroachment on land by influential figures and those connected to them had been addressed.
Asked about parliamentary committees from the Bhumjaithai Party preparing to inspect the facts after the transfers, he said committees should not be divided into government and opposition camps and that any relevant panel should investigate. He said the case had escalated to threats against the life of a national elected representative.
He said the legislative branch should continue its oversight role while the executive branch strictly enforced the law. He also called for an examination of phone communications to determine whether the influential figure had spoken with any leading politicians and whether any assistance had been given.
Chaiyachana said transfers should come only after the facts were established, and described the reshuffle as an attempt at justification rather than a solution. He rejected calling the transfers a crackdown on influence, saying influential figures were not civil servants but the individuals identified in the threats and land allegations.
He criticized the handling of the case in sharp terms, saying the transfers amounted to "monkey theater" that misled the public.
