pedro01

Why would he not answer questions without a lawyer present.

it is every one right not to do so

any thing you say CAN and WILL be held against ou in a court of law so better keep your mouth shut

Is that a Law in Thailand?

You know for sure?

Or is that just a popular grab from an American or UK police show?

EDIT ... not saying that it's not good advice ... but is it Thai Law?

.

A little common sense is all that is required.

Do you think that in an interview with any law enforcement organisation they will use anything you say IN YOUR FAVOR in court?

Seriously - once you get to court, law enforcement have decided you are guilty. As such, they will cherry pick what you said to prove their case. They do not have to provide full transcripts or use any information from interviews that makes their case weaker.

Talking to law enforcement officials outside of court can ONLY be used against you.

This rice fiasco gets worse by the day.

Now you are going to have Thai rice consumers shunning local product because of these fears.

The list of people hurt from this grows each day!

When you want to get into power you need to have someone to hold your banner as you give the banter.

The rice farmers believed they were chosen to wave the flag for a modern day Joan D'Arc but as she was burnt at the stake then perhaps the farmers now realise that you can't have your cake and eat it.

Farmers live in an inclusive society what their neighbours think they must show to be part of that brigade if not woe betide them.

The lot cannot realise that they have been hoodwinked for the farmers do believe in trusting nature however they are not geared to handle the responsibility of cash, it is the paradox that has held them so far.

Anger comes to them as soon as Lao Khao is poured it is a white powerful substance that has led them to the road to ruin.

Rice is the staple food of Thailand to have it contaminated is to tell the Thais you are no longer the chosen ones

It's nice to know that ignorance and bigorty are allive and well!

It's hard to know where to start with this nonsense. Farmers can't handle cash and they are all alcoholics?

Real charmer you are.

In Japan, they sell used underwear in vending machines everywhere. Right next to the beer vending machines.

That's a myth. In all my time there, I never saw a single "used panty" vending machine and I saw more than my fair share of Beer vending machines.

Supposedly there's some in Shibuya but I never saw them there either in my walkabouts.

You were either looking in the wrong place or were to late to witness this terrific phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burusera

I lived in Japan before coming to Thailand (1998) and I still go there a few times a year.

The myth that these things are as prevelant as Beer vending machines and that you can get used panties through a vending machine on any street corner is nonsense.

A Japanese guy once took me into a shop selling this stuff - but vending machines on the street? And as many selling panties as selling beer? It's funny but it's not true.

In Japan, they sell used underwear in vending machines everywhere. Right next to the beer vending machines.

That's a myth. In all my time there, I never saw a single "used panty" vending machine and I saw more than my fair share of Beer vending machines.

Supposedly there's some in Shibuya but I never saw them there either in my walkabouts.

With allegedly about 700++ billion spent on buying rice during 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 now saying to 'control spending to a total level of only 100 billion (per period?)' seems a bit late. Furthermore she doesn't say why the amount spent on pledging needs to be reduced neither has she indicated where the money has been lost. We only get a suggestion that pledging lower will reduce the total amount pledged, but doesn't give any indication how this may effect the amount or percentage lost.

In other words: "Dear farmers, as we can't spent too much and have some losses somewhere we have to cut you. My ministers with help of provincial governors and many other well-informed Pheu Thai people will explain all this to you soon in special organized 'good news' information sessions. To emphasize our good management, at the end of all sessions you'll get a free 5kg bag of rice from our stock, starting with the more matured years of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. As you now good wines mature slowly and our unique Thai rice can be like that. Cheers.

While it's not possible to audit this mess, there are clues and you are onto them. We've had lots of articles posted here. One recurring theme is that there is a "revolving fund" with the government owned Agricultural Bank for 500 billion baht to fund this scheme. Another was that the money was used up and that another 200 bil was needed. Thus your 700++ is most likely very accurate, to the best we can tell.

Then there was the article that stated that the government had raided the assets of the Ag Bank for 100 billion baht, taking 1/2 of its capital.

Now, any bank with 700++ billion bht in loans to just one thing but only 100 bil bht of its own capital is by any definition broke.

Next, the real reason the the government can/won't sell this rice is because it would realize the loss on the books of the Ag Bank and break it. As long as they sit on the rice and claim it's worth what they paid for it, then the loans from the Ag Bank appear to be cost neutral. And all the crap about fair trade and dumping at a loss is just that - crap. If selling the rice didn't shine the light on the losses, they could sell the rice to China and Africa at true market value and thumb their noses at detractors.

So the rice rots, the storage costs go up, but there is no paper loss.

When the day comes that someone smart enough to not listen to their lies calls it what it is, such as the IMF or Moody's, This government is broke. These are not long term 50 year loans like the 2 tril they are trying to borrow. This is current debt payable now with every bag of rice that's sold. The rice is the collateral.

Well thought out and I agree with you

I think the rices scheme is a disaster BUT I also think it is quite unfair to adjust the price of the rice in the ground AFTER the farmer has shouldered the costs associated with that rice - esp as the costs have been rising due to the scheme.

I thought everyone knew already that all MP's are flight risks!

lol!

bravo!

Is this the Attorney Generals job?

To appeal a case on behalf of the PM?

Genuine question...

BANGKOK, June 20 - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra confirmed today the government will proceed with its rice pledging scheme but said the pledge price will be flexibly related to that of the world market.

Cool - let's just hope nobody dumps 20M tonnes of rice on the market causing the price to drop through the floor!

The programme has greatly improved the country’s rice production

It has improved so much it hard to believe it is all grown in Thailand.

It isn't, of course. A lot of it is Cambodian.

And please, everybody knows that the farmers are still being shafted. They still get peanuts for their hard work.

The millers however... What was that about supercars going to Si Sa Ket again?

Agreed - paying over the odds does tend to increase the production of a product!

Didn't land rents go up when this scheme was introduced?

Will they now go down?

"Yesterday I went to the temple but he was not there. They said he is in France," Virood said.

Probably gone to buy some more handbags.

Someone's loss is someone else's gain I suppose. If you buy rice at above the market price, you would expect to lose money, wouldn't you? I do hope some of the 136 billion found its way into small farmers' pockets. It sounds remarkably like the CAP in EU (Common Agricultural Policy) with its wine lakes and butter mountains. How do you raise farm incomes, I wonder, without paying over the odds?

You give subsidies to small farmers with a cap on how many tonnes per farmer you subsidize.

That way you get the money to the people that need it and ONLY to the people that need it.

So let's get this right.

They brought 21.7M tonnes for 352Bn

They have 156Bn of rice left - although they don't say if this value is the purchase price or projected selling price. Let's figure it as the purchase price.

156Bn is 44.3% of 352Bn - meaning they sold 55.7% of the rice or approximately 12M tonnes for 59Bn - which by my calculations is about 4,900 Baht per tonne.

Is my maths incorrect here?

So far the scam with cars seems to be driving them with the Red temporary plates on them, and never actually getting them fully registered and driving them for years that way. Of all the questionable cars none so far that I have seen have white plates yet.

I was having my car worked on last week and the mechanic was fixing a BMW 740i with a red plate. It had 110,000 Kilometers already on it with a gas conversion.

I don't think so.

I regularly go to Starbucks on Thong Lor - the one just 50 or so metres up from Beccofino (if you don't know Beccofino, you might be an English teacher)

On a Sunday morning, there's a bunch of 'lads' that go there and park up in their Ferarris, Lambo's and other exotics. Some of these boys have taste too with some lovely vintage models turning up.

It's a bit like going to a motorshow every Sunday AM.

Anyway - ain't no red plates there but since this whole 'clampdown' started - those boys have been absent from their Sunday morning meet. I think the majority of these cars are registered on regular plates.

After reading various reports that the farmers are still only getting paid around 10-12,000 Bht per tonne, I just don,t understand why the farmers appear to enjoy getting ripped off in this obvious scam. Clearly the arithmetic does not add up and someone higher up the food chain is reaping the difference. Sooner or later they are going to realise they are being taken advantage of, but until then let them play games with their tablet computers while their fat cats are buying Lamborghinis.

The reason the farmers dont' complain is because they feel they are getting something and that is much better than the nothing they generally get.

5 mill seems a small amount of money to kill for specially if it has to be divided up among the 4 who have been fingered.

It has been said that the driver had access to the house so there must have been opportunity to get away with a lot of valuable stuff but it seems nothing was taken except the disks from the security cameras, supposedly on Ekkayuth's orders.

That in its self must surely raise suspicion for why if they were planning to take him somewhere and kill him would they or Ekkayuth need to erase what the cameras had recorded previous to that?

Those who are posting what a bad boy Ekkayuth was for running away to avoid prosecution, consider that Chalerm did the same thing.

I didn't say he was bad for running away. I said he was bad for ripping people off.

The guy was a scumbag.

why some man would be with a ugly woman like her !!

Look closely at the jaw area and mouth. She is a he!

Just when I thought this thread couldn't sink any lower - it does!

What sort of people is Thailand attracting that they cannot distinguish between a woman and a transsexual?