Thai Commerce Ministry: No Corruption In Government Rice Deals

[givenall]

Define corruption.

the foxes are guarding the hens

[Locationthailand]

I'm glad she found 11 people to disavow the claims. Must have been one hell of an investigation. Get real. At the risk of the mods deleting the post I have to say no other comment comes to mind other than stupid cow. No apology offered.

[Thai at Heart]

I'm glad she found 11 people to disavow the claims. Must have been one hell of an investigation. Get real. At the risk of the mods deleting the post I have to say no other comment comes to mind other than stupid cow. No apology offered.

Bet you wouldn't say that to her face though. Looking at the picture, neither would I. What is it with older Thai women in a position. Do they aspire to look like headmistresses of a borstal?

[rbrooks]

Lets see, the Thai Commerce Ministry conducted the investigation into alleged rice government deals. Is that not like the wolf tending the sheep or in this case, counting the sheep? Thai sheer stupidity in trying to save face and convincing their public that all is well.

[kurnell]

I reckon it would be fun if any politician just fessed up and said "phew, we are making so much money from corruption, it would blow your mind and we don't care that you all know cos there's nothing you can do about it!", then drive off in a 20 million baht car with a smile and a wave.

[trainman34014]

She must have been up all night practicing how to keep a straight face whilst delivering this speech !!

[waza]

Feb 11, 2013: Vatchari Vimooktayon, permanent-secretary for commerce, said authorities had hired rice surveyors to monitor the quality of the pledged rice. She said several committees have also been set up to control the rice quality and storage. She said the rotten rice, which was displayed in parliament last week, did not come from the rice pledging scheme. On Thursday, Democrat MP for Phitsanulok Warong Dejkitvikrom sliced open a bag of rice in parliament in a bid to demonstrate shoddy quality control of the stored paddy...........Deputy Commerce Minister Nattawut Saikuar yesterday said he had instructed the Public Warehouse Organisation to lodge a police complaint against Mr Warong for stealing state assets.

28/02/2013: "If the pledged price is lowered, it should stimulate growth in rice exports this year and help release rice from stockpiles, as well as promote rice industry growth," Vatchari said.

Mar 11, 2013: The pledging price for the 2012-2013 second crop of off-season rice will remain unchanged, Internal Trade Department director-general Wiboonlaksana Ruamraksa says.

March 4 2013: – A new injection of Bt320 billion (US$10.7 billion) will be needed as subsidy for the Thai government’s rice pledging scheme in the new harvest seasons..........Permanent secretary for commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said the new funding will be to purchase Bt200 billion of rice from the annual crop and Bt100 billion from the second harvest.............The Commerce Ministry made Bt180 billion for the government-to-government rice deals, she said.

Mar 22, 2013: Deputy Commerce Minister Nattawut Saikuar has admitted the government's rice pledging scheme is ridden with debt. Mr Nattawut, however, defended the scheme and said it is helping to stimulate the economy. "In principle, the rice pledging scheme is aimed at stabilising the prices of farm products to help farmers," Mr Nattawut said. "Such a scheme will be one million percent loss-ridden."

March 22 2013 – Thailand's Commerce Ministry today quashed allegations of corruption and gave a clean bill of correctness to the government’s rice trading activity during the last three years. "Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said an investigative committee has inspected relevant documents and questioned a total of 11 people and concluded that the government’s rice release in the past three years has been in accord with the strategy imposed by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC)."

This woman opinion changes like the wind, she should start all her statement with , "Once apon a time" because they have all the credibility of a fairty tale.

[surangw]

Define corruption.

the thai version is that it took place before or after the deal was made, not during the actual deal.

[Bellweather]

Oh My Buddha........ they really must think the public are as stupid as they are.

You are spot on with this. Many years ago an ex-girlfriend told me that politicians and officialdom in Thailand don't only expect to be believed when they speak they demand it. A denial of corruption in this country is ridiculous beyond words and I wonder if we will now get a rash of departments announcing " no corruption here "?

[NeverSure]

The elephant in the room is that this scheme is big enough to bankrupt Thailand. It really is.

Originally Thailand believed that since it was such a big rice exporter that if they held rice off the market, prices would rise and they'd break even. But prices have continually fallen, and the rice can't be sold for anywhere near what the government paid for it. That's not considering that some of it is rotting, and the storage costs are huge.

This is borrowed money, and Thailand is up to its eyeball in debt, and getting worse. Now the want to borrow a couple of tril to build a high speed rail. This is all stimulus at its worst.

There is a day of reckoning for Thailand.

[notmyself]

The elephant in the room is that this scheme is big enough to bankrupt Thailand. It really is.

Originally Thailand believed that since it was such a big rice exporter that if they held rice off the market, prices would rise and they'd break even. But prices have continually fallen, and the rice can't be sold for anywhere near what the government paid for it. That's not considering that some of it is rotting, and the storage costs are huge.

This is borrowed money, and Thailand is up to its eyeball in debt, and getting worse. Now the want to borrow a couple of tril to build a high speed rail. This is all stimulus at its worst.

There is a day of reckoning for Thailand.

Few people can envisage just how vast the rice scam is. 20 million tonnes just seems like 'lots and lots'. To put in perspective.... The supposed new dual train tracks all over Thailand will increase cargo potential to somewhere between 40-50 million tonnes a year. With 20+ million tonnes in storage which it dotted around the country, you are looking at 4+ months 24/7 just to move it.

Now I hear (not sure it was this thread) that it is going to be sold from srorage rather than FOB so the price per tonne is going to be much lower. Will it bankrupt Thailand? I don't think so.... yet. Will it kick seven bells out of the Thai economy? No question.

[NeverSure]

The elephant in the room is that this scheme is big enough to bankrupt Thailand. It really is.

Originally Thailand believed that since it was such a big rice exporter that if they held rice off the market, prices would rise and they'd break even. But prices have continually fallen, and the rice can't be sold for anywhere near what the government paid for it. That's not considering that some of it is rotting, and the storage costs are huge.

This is borrowed money, and Thailand is up to its eyeball in debt, and getting worse. Now the want to borrow a couple of tril to build a high speed rail. This is all stimulus at its worst.

There is a day of reckoning for Thailand.

Few people can envisage just how vast the rice scam is. 20 million tonnes just seems like 'lots and lots'. To put in perspective.... The supposed new dual train tracks all over Thailand will increase cargo potential to somewhere between 40-50 million tonnes a year. With 20+ million tonnes in storage which it dotted around the country, you are looking at 4+ months 24/7 just to move it.

Now I hear (not sure it was this thread) that it is going to be sold from srorage rather than FOB so the price per tonne is going to be much lower. Will it bankrupt Thailand? I don't think so.... yet. Will it kick seven bells out of the Thai economy? No question.

Good post.

The government has promised the farmers, and reiterated it just lately, that they will continue this program for several more years. Now, with more rice crops coming on all the time, where will they get the money? Where will they store the rice?

Just to me, Thailand has a strange business sense. It seems that if they can't get the price they want, whether for rice or repo'd condos, it all just sits there. They don't seem to cut their losses and unload for what the market will bear. Lordy, they still have empty and deteriorated, and are even tearing down some condos from the '97 crash, while new ones are built all around. Many of the old empty buildings are bank repo's. The IMF bailed out the banks from that last time. Would they do it again, with no repayment?

Thailand is borrowing money for all this chit. They haven't paid the IMF back for the bailouts of '97, yet they are borrowing for infrastructure and the rice scam, and now want to borrow a couple of tril for a rail system.

Borrowed money for the floods went missing.

I think I know where it all ends, and I'm not really worried about the value of the baht, long term.

[moe666]

In the SupanBuri area last week and the rice was piled 10 meters high outside. Wait till the rain starts what a pile of rotting mush

[muttley]

So I guess all those posters that say the lady is lying and corruption did take place, will accept that Abhisits' government were also involved in corruption arising from the rice deals

Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said an investigative committee has inspected relevant documents and questioned a total of 11 people and concluded that the government’s rice release in the past three years has been in accord with the strategy imposed by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC).

or is it a selective statement where corruption has only taken place in the PTP government period (according to the childish mantra that if a PTP MP / Red Shirt / Shinawatra says anything, it is a lie)

[Pimay1]

So I guess all those posters that say the lady is lying and corruption did take place, will accept that Abhisits' government were also involved in corruption arising from the rice deals

Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said an investigative committee has inspected relevant documents and questioned a total of 11 people and concluded that the government’s rice release in the past three years has been in accord with the strategy imposed by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC).

or is it a selective statement where corruption has only taken place in the PTP government period (according to the childish mantra that if a PTP MP / Red Shirt / Shinawatra says anything, it is a lie)

Ahhh the old smoke screen but....but...but

[bigbamboo]

So I guess all those posters that say the lady is lying and corruption did take place, will accept that Abhisits' government were also involved in corruption arising from the rice deals

Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said an investigative committee has inspected relevant documents and questioned a total of 11 people and concluded that the government’s rice release in the past three years has been in accord with the strategy imposed by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC).

or is it a selective statement where corruption has only taken place in the PTP government period (according to the childish mantra that if a PTP MP / Red Shirt / Shinawatra says anything, it is a lie)

Ahhh the old smoke screen but....but...but

There might be the occasional honest MP out there but finding him would be like looking for a virgin in a brothel.

None of the Thai political parties can be trusted and all are corrupt but PT just happen to have taken it to a whole new level. For this woman to claim the rice scam is corruption free simply invites the ridicule her comments are getting.

[A_Traveller]

The pledging component formed part of the of the various and some would say nefarious [either as an interference with the market or as a boondongel] various rice market support schemes run from 1982. However the present government decided to realign the pledging element to become, in actuality, a rice purchase scheme. This was despite concerns that there was considerable evidence to show a long term relationship which suggested that exports would be at a disadvantage should producer-oriented policies be extended in effect. By the by some of this analysis was undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives back in 2008-9.

To be clear there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that all administrations have been ineffective in managing the risk of corruption of any interventionist scheme from its inception, but the 100% pledge [the government will by all rice at an interventionist price] brings with it a set of additional market sensitive [and possibly distorting] risks as well as opening up the opportunity for those with access and a lack of scruples to benefit more readily then previously.

But it is simple to sell to the intended audience.

[muttley]

So I guess all those posters that say the lady is lying and corruption did take place, will accept that Abhisits' government were also involved in corruption arising from the rice deals

Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said an investigative committee has inspected relevant documents and questioned a total of 11 people and concluded that the government’s rice release in the past three years has been in accord with the strategy imposed by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC).

or is it a selective statement where corruption has only taken place in the PTP government period (according to the childish mantra that if a PTP MP / Red Shirt / Shinawatra says anything, it is a lie)

Ahhh the old smoke screen but....but...but

What smoke screen? People either believe what she says or it's a pack of lies, you can't just cherrypick the bit that fits your mindset. The dates don't change.

(the "but, but" riposte is stale and has been discredited, you may just want to realise that)

[Pimay1]

So I guess all those posters that say the lady is lying and corruption did take place, will accept that Abhisits' government were also involved in corruption arising from the rice deals

Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon said an investigative committee has inspected relevant documents and questioned a total of 11 people and concluded that the government’s rice release in the past three years has been in accord with the strategy imposed by the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC).

or is it a selective statement where corruption has only taken place in the PTP government period (according to the childish mantra that if a PTP MP / Red Shirt / Shinawatra says anything, it is a lie)

Ahhh the old smoke screen but....but...but

What smoke screen? People either believe what she says or it's a pack of lies, you can't just cherrypick the bit that fits your mindset. The dates don't change.

(the "but, but" riposte is stale and has been discredited, you may just want to realise that)

None are so blind as those who will not see. And for the "but, but" riposite it is used only by those who cannot defend the undefendable.