Mr Granville was a trained barrister who was previously involved in the real estate business in Marbella, Spain.

Steven Granville, former CEO of the failed Puravarna project in Rawai, has been released from jail after 18 months, after all charges against him were dropped, thephuketinsider.com reports.
Mr Granville was arrested in April last year on charges of deceiving buyers into paying for homes at the project that were never built. Nineteen buyers claimed they had paid a total of B217 million – an average of B11.4 million each – but that Phase 1 of the project had stalled and Phase 2 had never begun.

Mr Granville denied the deception charges and the judge in return denied him bail for the period leading up to his trial.

Local property commentators wondered almost from the start about the feasibility of selling Puravarna’s expensive homes, which were to be built in an area with no sea view.

It was also unpopular with other people living in the area, especially over the possibility of noise pollution when the project revealed plans to include a helipad.

To counter the lack of a sea view, Puravarna bought the Phuket Yacht Club hotel on Naiharn beach with the intention of making it the project’s “beach club”. The hotel is now the company’s sole functioning asset. But given that it is tied into the Puravarna tangle, attempts to sell it have so far come to nothing.

Born Steven James Shorrock in Cheshire, in the UK, Mr Granville was a trained barrister who was previously involved in the real estate business in Marbella, Spain.