Democrats To Pursue Rice Scam

[Lite Beer]

Democrats to pursue 'rice scam'

Prapasri Osathanon,

Pimnara Pradubwit

The Nation on Sunday

BANGKOK: -- NACC to be approached after China's ambassador denies any government-to-government purchases

The opposition Democrat Party vowed to press ahead with the corruption case against the government after the Chinese ambassador to Bangkok on Friday said Beijing had not committed to buying any Thai rice on a government-to-government basis. Beijing had only recommended private firms to buy, according to ambassador Guan Mu.

Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom said he will tomorrow lodge a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Commission in a case involving irregularities in the government's rice-pledging scheme.

Evidence he would attach with the complaint would include the copies of cashier cheques, including those belonging to Siam Indica issued to pay to the Foreign Trade Department as well as a diagram of the money-transfer routes, and authorisation documents of the people involved in the case to GSSG Imp and Exp Corp.

He would also submit the statements of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom on the rice trading between the Thai and the Chinese governments as well as the evidence of the links between the people involved and fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Warong has also prepared a letter to be submitted, asking the Anti-Money Laundering Office to investigate whether the irregularities were actually money laundering.

Ambassador Guan Mu on Friday had denied his government's purchase of 5 million tonnes of rice as claimed by the Thai Commerce Ministry, saying it only took part in recommending to state enterprises or private companies to buy.

He said Chinese companies had signed a contract to buy thousands of tonnes of rice from Thailand but not as much as 5 million tonnes as claimed by the Thai Commerce Ministry. He said China buys rice from many countries.

The ambassador was talking to the media as he joined a group of political students from China to meet Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva. He refused to talk about GSSG Exp and Imp Co, saying there were 4-5 companies involved in the rice trading with Thailand.

Meanwhile, Thai jasmine rice was bought at a high price as Chinese people in the South like its taste, he said.

Democrat MP Ong-Art Klampaiboon asked the government to reveal the government-to-government rice-trading contract, customs documents and the evidence of payment from the Chinese government to Thailand.

The opposition, during a censure debate last week, established a link between the government's rice-pledging scheme and suspected massive money laundering by producing evidence of a dummy company, individuals and old ghosts like President Agri Trading and Siam Indica, who were found involved in non-existent rice deals.

The rice deals were supposed to be part of government-to-government contracts.

In response, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom insisted strongly that the government did indeed sell rice as part of a government-to-government contract. All rice exports are verified by the Foreign Trade Department while the buyers are verified by the embassy, he said, adding that those involved in the deal are government agencies, not a Chinese company as alleged by the opposition.

In October, Boonsong said Thailand had exported 7 million tonnes of rice in the rice-pledging scheme to foreign governments but he did not show any evidence.

So far, the Yingluck government has boosted the state's rice inventory to more than 10 million tonnes after launching an unlimited pledging scheme, offering Bt15,000 per tonne, which is more than 33 per cent above the prevailing market price.

This has resulted in the government's inability to export a significant amount of rice, but has opened up opportunities to other exporting nations such as India and Vietnam, whose export shipments have already surpassed those of Thailand this year.

-- The Nation 2012-12-02

[dcutman]

I am very surprised at the Chinese cooperation in this.

This is getting very interesting. I think it is going to take a better explanation than Commerce Minister Boonsong's dog ate the documents and the 75 billion baht was accidentally routed to a bank in Dubai from Hong Kong.

[Moruya]

Great work Dems.

Looks like a tissue of lies from the PTP government over several months.

[Pimay1]

Hopefully the chickens are coming home to roost.

[GentlemanJim]

And.................the Government finally admit that it was a white lie designed to make people feel good and improve business in Thailand and confidence in investors. Two days of slanging matches in the house and then nothing is said again and it is all forgotten. These crooks wont even resign when they are blatantly caught doing something very wrong because they know by resigning they give up their criminal immunity. Grrrrrrr !

[Moruya]

I'm sure there will be a story on Monday to try to take the sting away.

"Thaksin almost chokes on his kebab'

"Yingluck believes in Father Christmas"

"Oak attacked by giant teddy bear"

"Abhisit ate my hamster"

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Thai at Heart]

This story might actually have some legs.

Pretty ridiculous way to run such a big money laundering scam.

[Moruya]

This story might actually have some legs.

Pretty ridiculous way to run such a big money laundering scam.

It's already grown legs and arms and has the possibility of becoming a monster - maybe even bringing down the government.

If I were Boonsong (God forbid) I would probably try to pass it off as a Kittirat by saying that the rice market was weak and the sales approach wasn't working therefore the Thai rice industry needed a boost to improve its Happened Index.

However if what the Dems have unearthed and the newspapers reported is true, then his goose is cooked. The shear scale of this scheme, the magnitude of the lies, the fact that Brother Arisman's MP wife is implicated and the attempts to cover everything up lead me to feel that an impeachment or other legal action will pull the rug out of this administration.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Skywalker69]

This whole deal smells pigs-sh*t all the way to Dubai.

[bigbamboo]

The Dems are suddenly like a dog with a bone..... and ironically it's the PTP who've given it to them.

[Thai at Heart]

This story might actually have some legs.

Pretty ridiculous way to run such a big money laundering scam.

It's already grown legs and arms and has the possibility of becoming a monster - maybe even bringing down the government.

If I were Boonsong (God forbid) I would probably try to pass it off as a Kittirat by saying that the rice market was weak and the sales approach wasn't working therefore the Thai rice industry needed a boost to improve its Happened Index.

However if what the Dems have unearthed and the newspapers reported is true, then his goose is cooked. The shear scale of this scheme, the magnitude of the lies, the fact that Brother Arisman's MP wife is implicated and the attempts to cover everything up lead me to feel that an impeachment or other legal action will pull the rug out of this administration.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

It is possible.

If they think they can implicate the Chinese government, and that they will cover ptp ass, they really are stupid.

People get a bullet for this type of thing in China, so to declare it publicly is crazy.

[Ragzilb]

Things are really getting out of hand for the news, government, and the banks, too many skeletons in the closet. It wont be long before the small farmers will start ask question and then we will have a riot at hand.

I just pray this will go without violence, Thailand do have the potential to be one of the best countries on food production and health.

The only thing I can say for now is; pass the popcorn.

[tomross46]

The PM said that they has an understanding with the government of china, that china would buy rice, at a price to be determined by the market. First we must understand a MOU is not a contract and is not binding. Second many members of the government have no idea of how the international grain market works and do not care. All a politician cares about is what the press prints. If later what he said is not correct, he can say that press miss-quoted me, or I do not remember making that statement, or I an taking cold medication.

[Pimay1]

I am confident Thaksin's call waiting on his mobile is beeping constantly.

"Worshipful Master what do we do next the web is closing in on us".

"Tell them to screw their mothers they can't prove anything and if they came close we will deliver lunch boxes to take care of it".

[nakhonandy]

Interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks/months.

Everybody in our village signed up for this as it was too good not to!

Can't blame them, 30% better than market price.

It was doomed to failure from the start, the true way to help the poorer rice farmers is education and growth incentives.

Not fiddling with a market that the politicians do not understand.

[khunken]

Yesterday, the other paper reported (from its sister publication) that the crooks from President Agri Trading are involved again. President Agri was involved in a rice scam during Thaksin's time in power. The trail goes through so-called Chinese companies set up by Thais and all the way to Thaksin.

The Dem who exposed this has done a great job - this is definitely a major expose of what everyone suspected. The Chinese ambassador's admission confirms the lies about the so-called Gov-to-Gov deals.

[bigbamboo]

Yesterday, the other paper reported (from its sister publication) that the crooks from President Agri Trading are involved again. President Agri was involved in a rice scam during Thaksin's time in power. The trail goes through so-called Chinese companies set up by Thais and all the way to Thaksin.

The Dem who exposed this has done a great job - this is definitely a major expose of what everyone suspected. The Chinese ambassador's admission confirms the lies about the so-called Gov-to-Gov deals.

As Eric Morecambe used to say.......... "Get out of that."

[SgtPepper]

The Dems are suddenly like a dog with a bone..... and ironically it's the PTP who've given it to them.

But there is meat on this bone.

[yoshiwara]

The Dems are suddenly like a dog with a bone..... and ironically it's the PTP who've given it to them.

But there is meat on this bone.

One is reminded of the scam involving the Singapore Government, which once they realised that they had been cobwebbed into Thaksin's machinations ran a mile. So now the Chinese Government will realise that thay have stepped into some sh*t and will not like that one bit. They too will retreat. The Thai Government can only get rid of the rice with substantive false invoicing, This is exactly the type of stuff Thaksin acquired his conviction medals. Not political crimes but economic ones. Either the rice is dumped into the river or the policy is cancelled. Yes, watch this space.

[kimamey]

Interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks/months.

Everybody in our village signed up for this as it was too good not to!

Can't blame them, 30% better than market price.

It was doomed to failure from the start, the true way to help the poorer rice farmers is education and growth incentives.

Not fiddling with a market that the politicians do not understand.

This is the problem though isn't it. Ragzilb in post #12 mentions small farmers asking questions and possible riots. This seems unlikely as if what you say is true then the small farmers are doing OK out of this at the moment although many say it's the rich middlemen and millers that benefit. If small farmers are getting more money then they will be happy and as many will not have any interest in economics they won't see the forthcoming problems. If the government were to fall maybe through court action then the incoming government will get the blame when the losses have to be dealt with.

As you say education is needed to show the big picture and not just the immediate gain.

[siampolee]

One is reminded of the scam involving the Singapore Government, which once they realised that they had been cobwebbed into Thaksin's machinations ran a mile. So now the Chinese Government will realise that thay have stepped into some sh*t and will not like that one bit. They too will retreat. The Thai Government can only get rid of the rice with substantive false invoicing, This is exactly the type of stuff Thaksin acquired his conviction medals. Not political crimes but economic ones. Either the rice is dumped into the river or the policy is cancelled. Yes, watch this space.

The time is coming albeit slowly when the Thai people are going to wake up and smell the foul stench of corruption coming from the simmering cauldron of corruption that Thaksin and his brown nosing acolytes have bubbling on the fire that the P.T.P. regular stoke in parliament and elsewhere. then the the people hopefully will stir the pot and skim the scum off.

. .

Edited December 2, 2012 by siampolee

[Skywalker69]

Interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks/months.

Everybody in our village signed up for this as it was too good not to!

Can't blame them, 30% better than market price.

It was doomed to failure from the start, the true way to help the poorer rice farmers is education and growth incentives.

Not fiddling with a market that the politicians do not understand.

This is the problem though isn't it. Ragzilb in post #12 mentions small farmers asking questions and possible riots. This seems unlikely as if what you say is true then the small farmers are doing OK out of this at the moment although many say it's the rich middlemen and millers that benefit. If small farmers are getting more money then they will be happy and as many will not have any interest in economics they won't see the forthcoming problems. If the government were to fall maybe through court action then the incoming government will get the blame when the losses have to be dealt with.

As you say education is needed to show the big picture and not just the immediate gain.

The small rice farmers only farms for their family , they don´t have enough land.

[asiawatcher]

And there it is in black and white...

"... as well as the evidence of the links between the people involved and fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra."

Then the denial proving the BS by PTP spin doctors trying to protect their asses...

"...Ambassador Guan Mu on Friday had denied his government's purchase of 5 million tonnes of rice as claimed by the Thai Commerce Ministry, saying it only took part in recommending to state enterprises or private companies to buy.?

Say no more...

Edited December 2, 2012 by asiawatcher

[FarangTalk]

I am confident Thaksin's call waiting on his mobile is beeping constantly.

"Worshipful Master what do we do next the web is closing in on us".

"Tell them to screw their mothers they can't prove anything and if they came close we will deliver lunch boxes to take care of it".

They can pretty much do what they want and they know it. The Dems are still utterly unelectable after Chuan's double failures in the 90's. Shot themselves in the foot after the coup too. Most Thais don't want regression back to the failed decades of the 80's and 90's old politics.

Worst case scenario is this government falls and the cycle of protests starts all over again. Or the government is forcibly removed and the protests start again. Or the government clings on and the protests start again...

The inevitable will come to pass no matter what happens. The pigs want prime position at the trough for when it happens.

[fstarbkk]

Get ready for Rice-Gate! The Thaksinites need to get more creative than usual to talk their way out of this mess, before the manure hits the ventilator in earnest. I just hope that the Dem's don't drop the ball on this one.

[Thai at Heart]

Get ready for Rice-Gate! The Thaksinites need to get more creative than usual to talk their way out of this mess, before the manure hits the ventilator in earnest. I just hope that the Dem's don't drop the ball on this one.

This story is going to run a long time before it comes to a head.