PM denies cover-up on Khao Yai Thiang

"My involvement in the Khao Yai Thiang plot is transparent and I welcome any probes into the matter," he said in reference to the investigation by the National Legislative Assembly's committee on police and justice.

Surayud confirmed his earlier comments that the plot was under the name of his wife Thanphuying Jitrawadee and that he and his wife had no ownership of the land but the right to use it based on annual property tax payments to local authorities.

He said his wife named their son as the household leader for the vacation home they built on the plot. This should not be construed about land ownership which is a separate issue, he added.

For families having more than one home, it is a common practice to assign different members as household leaders, he said, noting that he maintains his address at a Pibul Wattana home while his wife is the household leader at their Lad Krabang residence.

The Khao Yai Thiang plot is part of the forest reserve and authorities have yet to rule whether the original settler, who passed on the land right to Surayud, legally settled or encroached on the land.

The area was declared the forest reserve in 1965 and a Cabinent resolution in 1998 granted exemption to original settlers from eviction pending checks that they lived on the land before the zoning and that their settlements do not encroached on watershed areas.