BUYER BEWARE THIS TROPICAL PARADISE!

A MONUMENT TO CORRUPTION

These properties on the Thai holiday island of Phuket are for sale or rent. On the market the cheapest is advertised at £794,000. (35 million Thai baht) The expensive ones on the water’s edge are going at over £1 million which, compared to prices in the west, is cheap for a tropical paradise.

This is the Eva Beach resort. Chairman of the Board here is a Thai Army General.  And the CEO runs one of the biggest property companies in southern Thailand. That must be good, right?

No, it’s not! The courts have ordered the whole shebang to be ‘corrected’. And the only way to correct it is to tear the whole thing down.

Those who buy will find their properties are valued at the land office for between 2 and 4 million Thai baht (£45.000 – £90,000) and that’s another dodge to avoid 3% sales tax. If they get demolished they will be worth nothing.

The new owners could sue, but if they have spent their retirement savings, that may be a problem, let alone the enforcement of a court ruling.

The real owners are the Thai public. It has encroached on public land. Those laws which were broken were put in place to preserve the pristine beauty of Thailand’s tropical islands. In Thailand beaches are for everyone. Thailand does not want to end up like southern Spain with end to end building along the Mediterranean, or so everyone seemed to think.

I reported on Eva Beach back in 2102. Everybody knew then that this luxury compound under construction in Phuket’s Rawai Subdistrict,  flouted zoning laws, environmental protections, and basic planning logic.  With 20 units pressed illegally into a steep slope and coastal buffer zone, the development ignored stop-work orders, public objections, and multiple environmental statutes.

Despite protests, complaints, and government reports confirming violations, construction never stopped. The view disappeared. The coastline was scarred. And those responsible were rewarded.

The Courts Have Spoken—But No One Listens

In 2010, the first lawsuit was filed by local resident American Eric Kenly supported by 40 villagers. He bought his house for the view out across the Andaman Sea and other islands in 2004. He had confirmation from Rawai Municipality that the land between him and the sea was in Zone 1 and nothing which could ever block his view could be built there.

Then he had to watch helplessly as 16-meter-high structures rose in violation of, multiple zoning, environmental, and building statutes, as was confirmed by the Supreme Court.

His wife, Yaling, died before ever seeing justice. Today, he lives with his new partner, Chermin, who describes their life as being “in the shadow of their profits—with no peace.”

“We followed the law. We trusted the system. The courts have ruled in our favor. But still, enforcement has failed. Why must law-abiding citizens suffer while violators profit?” she said.

Added Eric:”Our peace is gone. Our property value is a fraction of what it was. What are we supposed to do? Who pays for our damage? I’ve lost 15 years of my life waiting for the ‘process’ to work—15 years of stress, uncertainty, and silence from those responsible. We did everything right. And yet we’re the ones trapped. Not them.”

Their home is unsellable, he says. Their rights have been trampled. Their faith in the system was crushed by concrete and paper.

In 2017, the Nakhon Si Thammarat Administrative Court ruled the Eva Beach project unlawful. In 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the ruling, and issued a final, non-appealable demolition order.

“Let this be clear: there is no further appeal. The law has spoken. Enforcement is not optional. And yet, as of today, the buildings still stand. Worse: they’re booking fast.”

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“The court affirms that the Eva Beach project was constructed in a protected coastal zone, in violation of zoning laws, building regulations, and environmental safeguards. The demolition order is final and binding. It must be executed by the Rawai Subdistrict Municipality without delay.”**
— Supreme Administrative Court, Case Aor. 1465/2566 (2023)

An Illegal Resort—Still Profiting

Eva Beach is now run as a short-term rental compound. Loud music, full guest vans, and daily water deliveries fuel what amounts to a beachfront hotel—operating without a license, in defiance of a Supreme Court verdict.

Holiday listings show “luxury villas by the sea.” But the truth is concrete blocks on encroached on coastline, marketed under fraudulent legality. Since 2017, at least three units have been sold to foreign buyers unaware they were buying into an illegal project due for demolition.

The legal framework is clear. The court order is final. But the enforcement is nonexistent.

The Man Who Approved It All

This betrayal leads back to Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos—the man who approved Eva Beach’s unlawful building permits. He ignored zoning laws and authorized construction in a protected zone.
In 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that Solos had acted illegally, and suspended him from office.

He is now under criminal prosecution for corruption and dereliction of duty — a rare step toward accountability in a system built to avoid it.
But prosecution does not equal punishment. Solos remains free. The project he enabled continues to generate profit. Enforcement has been postponed. Justice, again, delayed—and diluted.

A System That Protects Illegality

This isn’t just about one rogue official. This is a system built on selective paralysis:

• The Phuket Land Department confirmed that Eva Beach was built on public land. No penalties followed.
  (The construction at Eva Beach was found to extend beyond private title deeds and into public coastal land, including areas protected under maritime and environmental law.”
  — Phuket Land Department, Inspection Report, 2011–2017)
• The Marine Department found that a massive seawall was built across public beach—violating maritime law. No demolition followed.
• Public land turned private: Everything beyond the building edge—lawns, pavilions, swimming pools, barbecue pits, and retaining walls—sits unlawfully on protected coastal land. Despite rulings, no restoration or removal has occurred.
• Municipal authorities filed criminal complaints. Then went silent.
• Developers flooded the courts with retrial petitions and shell company filings—legally flimsy, procedurally effective.

The result? No enforcement until mid-2026, nearly a decade after the original ruling.

Elite Connections: The Silence Explained?

So why the inaction? Why the silence?  The answer may sit not in the court files—but in the boardroom.

The Chairman of the Board is General Niphat Thonglek, Chairman of the Board. He is a former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, with direct links to the highest levels of Thailand’s military and political elite.

The Chief Executive Officer is Atthanop Phanthukhamnerd, Chief Executive Officer, with ties to large-scale real estate ventures across the southern provinces.

General Niphat is not just a token name on a letterhead. He served as a senior military strategist, appointed as assistant to the Defence Minister, and held significant influence during the military government era post-2014.

When a development ruled unlawful by the courts continues to operate… when enforcement orders remain unexecuted… and when public land use is left unresolved—questions naturally arise. Is this a matter of bureaucratic delay, or something deeper?

In Thailand, influence can shape outcomes in ways that don’t always align with public interest. And the ongoing inaction around Eva Beach raises not just legal questions—but structural ones. This doesn’t look like confusion. It looks like silence with consequences.

Justice Abandoned

Eva Beach breaks: Zoning laws, Coastal protection laws, Construction permit statutes,  Public land codes, Hotel licensing regulations. It has been ruled unlawful at every level—with finality.
So why is it still here?

I have written many stories about property fraud in Phuket on this site. Sometimes it can end in murder.

A Warning to Investors—and Citizens
Thailand’s real estate market, especially in tourist zones like Phuket, is sold as paradise. But the Eva Beach scandal reveals the real pitch:
• You can win in court—and still lose in reality.
• You can obey the law—and be ruined by those who don’t.
• You can buy a sea view—and have it stolen, with no compensation.
• You can expose corruption—and find yourself alone in a courtroom.
Eva Beach is a masterclass in modern impunity:
• Build illegally
• Stall in court for over a decade
• Sell properties under court order
• Occupy public land
• Violate marine protection laws
• Run a hotel without a license
• Ignore a demolition order

And face no consequences.
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What You Can Do
Eric and Chermin don’t want sympathy. They want enforcement. And so should every Thai citizen and honest investor.
Readers can support accountability by:
• Sharing this story
• Contacting the Phuket Land Department and Marine Office
• Demanding enforcement of the Supreme Administrative Court’s 2023 ruling
Eva Beach is more than a scandal. It is a test of whether the rule of law exists in Thailand—or if it’s just another illusion on a tourist brochure.
Until enforcement happens, Eva Beach remains what it has always been:
A prison in paradise. Rented nightly. Sold monthly. Protected by silence.

My little problem

A few years ago when I lived in Bangkok I had a dream house on a lake – ten minutes from the airport – and 15 minutes by Skytrain into Sukhumvit. But you could never tell I in was one of the most crammed cities in southeast Asia. I put out a sala on the water,  built another for my secret garden, bought a catamaran, and watched as all sorts of wildlife came to my door.

Now the lake and the wildlife have gone after a construction company moved in and filled everything in. If I were there now I would be looking at a new housing estate.  Could I have objected? The builder was the Thai Prime Minister! How lucky is that?  Well this is how it went.

When I bought my house with my Thai partner, the land belonged to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Pojaman, (SC Assets)  They sold it to Santi Promphat, Deputy Minister of Finance in the Chayut Chan-o-cha government, who sold it on to Srettha Thavasin Prime Minister 2023-4.

Thavasin owned Sansiri, one of the largest developers in Thailand, which filled in ‘my lake’ or ‘loch’ as I used to call it. My house was called ‘Nessies Nook’.

Srettha was removed as Prime Minister by the Constitutional Court for ethics violations. This was his appointment of Pichit Chuenban as Minister in the Prime Minister’s offce.

Pichit was the guy who handed Supteme Court judge a lunch box with 2 million Thai baht in it, supposedly on behalf of Prime Minister Thaksin in the Ratchadaphisek Land Scandal case.

What could I do to save the wildlife sanctuary which I and my partner had helped create. Rather, what could my very good friend, who took over my house do? These people deal in hundreds of millions. They keep a couple of million in their lunch boxes. The politicians come from different parties

Below – Here’s food for thought.

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THAI JUDGES FIXED BILLION BAHT COURT CASE ON DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER’S ORDERS

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