Cambodian Rice Exports To Thailand Rising; N A C C ' To Probe Rice Scheme Testimony'

[webfact]

NACC 'to probe rice scheme testimony'
Anuphan Chantana,
Chanikan Phumhirun
The Nation



Cambodian rice exports to Thailand rising; Democrat revives allegations

BANGKOK: -- The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will consider claims of corruption in the government's rice-pledging scheme made during a recent parliamentary session, a senior official from the agency said. However, it remains unclear when the NACC will conclude its ongoing probe.

During screening of the 2014 budget bill last week, Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom revived an allegation against the government first made during the no-confidence debate last December. He said the government suspiciously allowed a private company owned by "Sia Piak" to buy rice from the government's stockpile for just Bt5,700 per tonne.

Warong posted a Facebook message outlining the allegations yesterday and is preparing to hold a press conference and provide additional information to the NACC today.

NACC commissioner Klanarong Chanthik yesterday confirmed that the information supplied by Warong during the debate on the budget bill would be assessed in their probe.

"We have assigned officials to monitor the debate," Klanarong said. "We will use the information in handling the case."

Klanarong chairs the NACC subcommittee tasked with investigating alleged corruption in the government's rice-pledging scheme.

The scheme is the most controversial of the populist policies launched by the Yingluck government. Promising prices of up to Bt15,000 per tonne, critics of the scheme say it has caused more than Bt260 billion in damage to the country.

According to Warong, "Sia Piak" was affiliated with "Sia Piang", a person close to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. After Sia Piak's company bought rice from the government, it immediately sold it to a rice miller in Kamphaeng Phet for Bt12,000 per tonne, the MP said.

Warong has implicated the secretary to the commerce minister in the scandal.

Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut yesterday also accused the government of distorting figures related to the rice scheme.

The government tried to claim that it successfully sold rice via government-to-government agreements, he said.

"But we have not seen any export of rice from the government stockpile," Chavanond said.

Cambodian connection

Chavanond also cited a recent Phnom Penh Post report that exports of Cambodian unpolished rice to Thailand were increasing. The opposition politician suspected the Cambodian rice might have been imported by corrupt people in order to profit from the government's rice-pledging scheme.

The English-language daily reported that government figures show that in the first four months of this year, Cambodian milled-rice exports to Thailand reached 14,250 tonnes, while total Cambodian overseas exports amounted to 118,504 tonnes.

Meanwhile, NACC commissioner Sataphon Laothong said he had already pulled out of the subcommittee that is looking into the rice-pledging scheme.

"I wish to avoid any conflict of interest," he said.

According to Sataphon, while he was serving as police inspector-general, he was appointed to a subcommittee monitoring the implementation of the rice-pledging scheme. At that time, the deputy commerce minister himself chaired the subcommittee.

Sataphon said another NACC commissioner, Prasart Pongsivapai, had taken his place in the NACC probe into alleged corruption in the scheme.


-- The Nation 2013-06-03

[waza]

This is a chance to show that the NACC is independent and part of the checks and balances, not the corruption.

[NeverSure]

Import rice to Thailand which is knee deep in unsold rice. Hmmm. Move along folks. Nothing to see here.

Let someone close to Thaksin Shinawatra buy rice for bt5,700 a ton and sell it to a rice miller for bt12,000 a ton. I'm shocked, I tell ya, shocked.

Considering that the government paid* a minimum of bt15,000 and as much as bt20,000 for that rice, I want in on this deal.

*The money is borrowed, not paid for, jeopardizing the Agricultural Bank.

[EvilDrSomkid]

Forgive me for being cynical, but I don't think anyone will get busted for this.

Chuwit has video evidence of rice being smuggled in to Thailand from Cambodia. Everybody knows this is happening.

But, let's remember where we are, who is running this place and previous allegations quietly disappearing.

How did those 100mil baht cars get paid for I wonder...

[slapout]

This country is awash in smuggling, This is the ultimate "Hub" that they seem to want to be known for.

Rice from neighboring countries for payment from government program.

Drugs being shipped from manufactor facilities, for distribution region/world wide.

labor for government paid infastruture projects.

Human trafficing to service the illegal labor force.

Cars which bypass the legal import tax system.

Fuel from neighboring countries, where it is cheaper.

Fuel from Thailand to neighboring where the tax is not paid/

Fake/conterfit goods produced locally and outside Thailand.

Fake ID cards, passports, university deplomas

Ag product stored at government expense which goes missing.

Money from public coffers, cannot be traced, as to its hiding place

Written tests for just about every position, seat, job, etc out there.

Prison contiban going both ways.

and the list goes on.

[OzMick]

Revelation after revelation adds bricks to this wall of corruption. Whether it is building a prison to incarcerate or a backdrop for their execution, it will eventually destroy the Shinawatra's and their puppet party.

[chooka]

Import rice to Thailand which is knee deep in unsold rice. Hmmm. Move along folks. Nothing to see here.

Let someone close to Thaksin Shinawatra buy rice for bt5,700 a ton and sell it to a rice miller for bt12,000 a ton. I'm shocked, I tell ya, shocked.

Considering that the government paid* a minimum of bt15,000 and as much as bt20,000 for that rice, I want in on this deal.

*The money is borrowed, not paid for, jeopardizing the Agricultural Bank.

Sounds like a good scheme. You grow the rice then sell it to the government for 15K , buy it back off them for 5.7K then sell it again for 12K in the end you have made 15.6K for your ton instead of the original 15K

Then you can even buy cheap rice from Cambodia and sell it to the government as Thai rice for a huge profit.

Edited June 3, 2013 by chooka

[tomross46]

Lets keep it in the family. Not we have Khmer Rogue in the family also.

[Roadman]

This country is awash in smuggling, This is the ultimate "Hub" that they seem to want to be known for.

Rice from neighboring countries for payment from government program.

Drugs being shipped from manufactor facilities, for distribution region/world wide.

labor for government paid infastruture projects.

Human trafficing to service the illegal labor force.

Cars which bypass the legal import tax system.

Fuel from neighboring countries, where it is cheaper.

Fuel from Thailand to neighboring where the tax is not paid/

Fake/conterfit goods produced locally and outside Thailand.

Fake ID cards, passports, university deplomas

Ag product stored at government expense which goes missing.

Money from public coffers, cannot be traced, as to its hiding place

Written tests for just about every position, seat, job, etc out there.

Prison contiban going both ways.

and the list goes on.

Corruption at every level. Thailand earns enough to have even the poor of Isaan have a far better standard of living than that they endure. They get twopence spent on them while the latest Amart family creams if off.

Interesting yesterday. In at the Auckland Asian market doing the monthly stockpile run. 10kg of Thai sticky rice no problem as it is good quality, so no questions. She who has brought Thai Jasmine for the last seven years unquestioned caved in an brought the Cambodian new season Jasmine at $10 cheaper for 22 kg bag. The thai internal bullshit that the Thailand populace is fed does not wash on those who have lived in the west. The eyes opened American Thais told the fugitive criminal when he visited there he was not welcome. It is time that Thailand itself spoke out against this latest dictatorial Amart.

[virtualtraveller]

Should have limited the pledge to the same quantity per farmer as previous years, now they are all growing second crops which blows out the budget, fills the silos, brings down the market price further and makes it easy for rice not grown in Thailand to surreptitiously enter the scheme. But who cares when it's actually a scheme for their cronies to make money, the more rice the better. They're not financing it.

[Mosha]

I admit I read the head line in the topics list, and cracked out laughing. I know it's not funny, but you couldn't write a story that would be more ridiculous.

[pistachios]

Seems like s*** is going to hit the fan...

[apetley]

Should have limited the pledge to the same quantity per farmer as previous years, now they are all growing second crops which blows out the budget, fills the silos, brings down the market price further and makes it easy for rice not grown in Thailand to surreptitiously enter the scheme. But who cares when it's actually a scheme for their cronies to make money, the more rice the better. They're not financing it. 

Three crops a year here in Kanchanaburi, four if you have your act together. Couple that with the planting of land that hasn't been in production before and it is quite possible this year will see a record harvest.

Here in the village people have even been ploughing over the sugarcane to grow rice.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pops]

This country is awash in smuggling, This is the ultimate "Hub" that they seem to want to be known for.

Rice from neighboring countries for payment from government program.

Drugs being shipped from manufactor facilities, for distribution region/world wide.

labor for government paid infastruture projects.

Human trafficing to service the illegal labor force.

Cars which bypass the legal import tax system.

Fuel from neighboring countries, where it is cheaper.

Fuel from Thailand to neighboring where the tax is not paid/

Fake/conterfit goods produced locally and outside Thailand.

Fake ID cards, passports, university deplomas

Ag product stored at government expense which goes missing.

Money from public coffers, cannot be traced, as to its hiding place

Written tests for just about every position, seat, job, etc out there.

Prison contiban going both ways.

and the list goes on.

Corruption at every level. Thailand earns enough to have even the poor of Isaan have a far better standard of living than that they endure. They get twopence spent on them while the latest Amart family creams if off.

Interesting yesterday. In at the Auckland Asian market doing the monthly stockpile run. 10kg of Thai sticky rice no problem as it is good quality, so no questions. She who has brought Thai Jasmine for the last seven years unquestioned caved in an brought the Cambodian new season Jasmine at $10 cheaper for 22 kg bag. The thai internal bullshit that the Thailand populace is fed does not wash on those who have lived in the west. The eyes opened American Thais told the fugitive criminal when he visited there he was not welcome. It is time that Thailand itself spoke out against this latest dictatorial Amart.

Roadman, I saw the fable below at the end of your post:

The thing is, that this time, a coup will not be needed.

This government is fully capable of toppling itself.

The Thai Bed Time book of Fables

Chapter 1: There will be a coup very soon

Chapter 2: The Army runs the country

Chapter 3: There will be a coup soon

Chapter 4: Thailand is a western democracy

Chapter 5: There will be a coup

• Quote
• MultiQuote

[allan michaud]

This country is awash in smuggling, This is the ultimate "Hub" that they seem to want to be known for.

Rice from neighboring countries for payment from government program.

Drugs being shipped from manufactor facilities, for distribution region/world wide.

labor for government paid infastruture projects.

Human trafficing to service the illegal labor force.

Cars which bypass the legal import tax system.

Fuel from neighboring countries, where it is cheaper.

Fuel from Thailand to neighboring where the tax is not paid/

Fake/conterfit goods produced locally and outside Thailand.

Fake ID cards, passports, university deplomas

Ag product stored at government expense which goes missing.

Money from public coffers, cannot be traced, as to its hiding place

Written tests for just about every position, seat, job, etc out there.

Prison contiban going both ways.

and the list goes on.

Hub of Hubs, no less

[jalansanitwong]

It makes you wonder how much cheap Cambodian and Vietnamese rice is packed into 49 kg 'Product of Thailand " sacks and then dumped in the local markets around Thailand. The rice pledge scam appears to have been great for boosting sales of ferraris and lambo's.

Sri sa ket in Isan is becoming a hub for these sports cars. People are making alot of easy money. Those cars cost 30-50- million baht each.

Import more rice.

Edited June 3, 2013 by metisdead
Bold font removed.

[khunken]

Didn't PTP 'investigate' alleged corruption in the rice scam and find none? Was Chalerm involved?

These are the sort of major crimes that the DSI should be investigating if they weren't so busy filing frivolous cases against the Dems. I'm sure there are whistle blowers ready to talk if a serious effort is made to look at all the diverse methods to skim off money from the rice 'scheme'.

[Robby nz]

That 14,250 tons that have been sold to Thailand from Cambodia is only the official numbers.

How much more has crossed the border in out of the way places and been sold into the scheme?

[Thai at Heart]

That 14,250 tons that have been sold to Thailand from Cambodia is only the official numbers.

How much more has crossed the border in out of the way places and been sold into the scheme?

This is literally a drop in a vast ocean of rice sitting in Thailand. I would have believed this figure better if it had been 142,250 tonnes, or 1,420,250 tons

[rubl]

As the 20,000 tons sold in 5kg bags to China was considered a major step in cleaning Thai stock, importing only slightly less from Cambodia (14,250 tons) is indeed worrying.

[Robby nz]

The problem TaH is that every ton that comes into the country from other countries means one ton less is sold out of the vast ocean, as you put it.

This is only Cambodies official numbers from the first 3 months of the year, then there is whatever has come in from India, Vietnam and Lao with probably some from Burma and Malaya as well.

When all these are added up the number could well be a lot more significant and that's without taking into consideration what has come in in the last two years.

Surely the 'once upon a time' biggest rice exporter in the world shouldn't have to import any rice.

[Thai at Heart]

The problem TaH is that every ton that comes into the country from other countries means one ton less is sold out of the vast ocean, as you put it.

This is only Cambodies official numbers from the first 3 months of the year, then there is whatever has come in from India, Vietnam and Lao with probably some from Burma and Malaya as well.

When all these are added up the number could well be a lot more significant and that's without taking into consideration what has come in in the last two years.

Surely the 'once upon a time' biggest rice exporter in the world shouldn't have to import any rice.

I would suggest a 0.07% smuggling rate is unbelievably low. Check the rates within the EU under the cap.

[webfact]

UPDATE:
Commerce Ministry rejects massive govt rice subsidy programme losses
By Digital Media

BANGKOK, June 3 – Permanent secretary for commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon today ruled as speculation a loss of Bt260 billion in the government’s rice pledging scheme since 2011.

“It is impossible as the government’s subsidies were only Bt300 billion per year for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 yields,” she said. “The amounts covered several harvesting years, not only in the present government.”

Ms Vatchari added that she has yet to check the inventory in the central rice stockpile and the accounting procedure prior to closing entries before confirming if the government has lost Bt100 billion in the 2012/2013 harvest.

She said: “We have asked the Finance Ministry for an explanation on its closing entries which stated the Bt260 billion loss. We were told that high-ranking officials prohibited the disclosure of information.”

Asked if she could reveal the closing entries in the last year’s accounting cycle, Ms Vatchari side-stepped the question but said she has yet to see the entire calculation process.

She insisted that the pledging scheme was not meant to buy grain at exorbitant prices to sell cheaply, but rather to elevate the market prices, adding that the subsidy has helped boost the gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.4 per cent.

The Commerce Ministry, she said, has gradually repaid the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives at over Bt80 billion from this year’s Bt260 billion repayment target.

She rejected a Cambodian newspaper report that rice from the neighbouring country was sold to the pledging scheme, saying the government has banned paddy imports.

There might be smuggling of rice into the country, but not paddy, she said. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-2013-06-03

[waza]

"She insisted that the pledging scheme was not meant to buy grain at exorbitant prices to sell cheaply, but rather to elevate the market prices, adding that the subsidy has helped boost the gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.4 per cent."

"On a year-on-year basis, the GDP expanded by 5.3 percent, down from 19.1 percent recorded in the previous quarter. Domestic demand, although moderated, continued to be the main driver of the expansion............On the production side, construction, services and agriculture expanded by 0.6 percent, 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, while manufacturing shrank by 5.9 percent"

So without the rice scam, Thai GDP would actually contract this year creating a recession.

[rubl]

It is seldom I question a Permanent secretary for commerce on data, but k. Vatchari's explanation seems a bit unclear.

The "governments subsidies were only Bt300 billion per year for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 yields" and therefore the total losses projected can never be 260 billion. She probably refers to the rice still being in stock, so no loss (on paper).

K. Vatchari also needs to check before confirming anything on losses on the 2012/2013 harvest, but seems to conveniently forget about 2011/2012.

The gem of course is in "subsidy has helped boost the gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.4 per cent". Surely all taxpayers in Thailand can feel proud about that.

[Thai at Heart]

It is seldom I question a Permanent secretary for commerce on data, but k. Vatchari's explanation seems a bit unclear.

The "governments subsidies were only Bt300 billion per year for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 yields" and therefore the total losses projected can never be 260 billion. She probably refers to the rice still being in stock, so no loss (on paper).

K. Vatchari also needs to check before confirming anything on losses on the 2012/2013 harvest, but seems to conveniently forget about 2011/2012.

The gem of course is in "subsidy has helped boost the gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.4 per cent". Surely all taxpayers in Thailand can feel proud about that.

As though storing the stuff for this extended period is for free.

[Mosha]

I don't know where my wife got this gem from. "Thailand used to be #1 for rice, but now we have stopped growing it."

[bigbamboo]

This country is awash in smuggling, This is the ultimate "Hub" that they seem to want to be known for.

Rice from neighboring countries for payment from government program.

Drugs being shipped from manufactor facilities, for distribution region/world wide.

labor for government paid infastruture projects.

Human trafficing to service the illegal labor force.

Cars which bypass the legal import tax system.

Fuel from neighboring countries, where it is cheaper.

Fuel from Thailand to neighboring where the tax is not paid/

Fake/conterfit goods produced locally and outside Thailand.

Fake ID cards, passports, university deplomas

Ag product stored at government expense which goes missing.

Money from public coffers, cannot be traced, as to its hiding place

Written tests for just about every position, seat, job, etc out there.

Prison contiban going both ways.

and the list goes on.

So you're saying that Thailand is a hub after all. A hub of crime.

[NeverSure]

If one adds up the payments and tonnages, the loss is approaching 700 billion baht. Now rice is being smuggled in from neighboring countries and sold to the government as Thai rice. The government is paying between 15k and 20k per ton, and the latest reported sale was 5.7k per ton with Thaksin somehow probably involved selling it back to a miller for 12k.

All talk of sales is just talk. The government has been caught flat out lying about sales to other countries, which deny the sales. One country in Africa which did buy some rice claimed that 20% - 30% of it was spoiled and had to be destroyed.

The 700 bil is owed to the Agricultural Bank which belongs to the Thai government in a "revolving fund" which doesn't revolve, and which bank doesn't have the capital to sustain this loss. In short, it has turned the Agricultural Bank upside down and selling the rice at a loss would cause realized losses on the books and break that bank.

I'm just recapping a bunch of published stories, all of which have been on this site over time.

The Thai government and its banks, if audited and required to mark to market, is tits up.

[NeverSure]

It is seldom I question a Permanent secretary for commerce on data, but k. Vatchari's explanation seems a bit unclear.

The "governments subsidies were only Bt300 billion per year for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 yields" and therefore the total losses projected can never be 260 billion. She probably refers to the rice still being in stock, so no loss (on paper).

K. Vatchari also needs to check before confirming anything on losses on the 2012/2013 harvest, but seems to conveniently forget about 2011/2012.

The gem of course is in "subsidy has helped boost the gross domestic product (GDP) by 6.4 per cent". Surely all taxpayers in Thailand can feel proud about that.

I will never understand how government spending can be counted in GDP. It skews any true reflection of what the private sector is doing with production, up or down. The government is a net consumer of wealth, never a producer of wealth, and I'd like to see what it looks like if government borrowing and deficit spending was actually subtracted from what the private sector produces. After all, government borrowing and deficit spending is pulling a country into a hole, not lifting it. Look at Greece, et al. Their problems are about government debt and spending which in the end pulls the whole country down.

Thailand is just another Greece waiting for the other shoe to drop.