Thailand's anti-graft agency finds irregularities in govt-to-govt rice contract

[webfact]

Anti-graft agency finds irregularities in govt-to-govt rice contract
By English News



BANGKOK, July 11 - Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on Wednesday said irregularities have been found in a government-to-government rice contract as the payment figure was unusually low.

NACC commissioner Vicha Mahakhun, as a member of a sub-committee examining corruption in the rice pledging scheme, said his agency is seeking details from six banks which issued 1,460 cashier's cheques for the government-to-government rice release contract.

Mr Vicha said the agency will seek court intervention to get the key information in case the banks refuse to cooperate.

The NACC commissioner however noted that some cheques were worth only 80,000 baht, a number which he said was unusual given the scale of G-to-G contracts.

He said it was unusual for any state to pay an amount as small as Bt80,000 at the level of G-to-G rice purchases.

Mr Vicha added deputy permanent secretary for finance Supa Piyajitti, heading a Finance Ministry team assessing rice scheme accounts, has given clear information on their contents to the sub-committee.

Ms Supa earlier testified before a Senate committee that the rice-pledging scheme is plagued with corruption. The Finance Ministry then set up a committee to probe her testimony.

The NACC commissioner said Ms Supa could ask for NACC protection under the witness-protection law if she felt she was intimidated. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-07-11

[slapout]

That was the intial bar bill while overseeing the inventory inspection at the warehouse that was being fumigated. We were told it would take a couple of weeks for the area to be ready for inspection, thus there are other expenses which required addition monies whose amounts were more in line with huge amounts expected.

[edwinchester]

80k bht for a government to government rice deal? Must be even more rotten and pesticide ridden than previously intimated to be that cheap.

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

[OzMick]

"six banks which issued 1,460 cashier's cheques" - now why would that be suspicious?

[Robby nz]

Elsewhere it has been reported that the Govt says it has recently signed a deal to sell 5 million tons of rice to China and wants to speed up delivery.

Could that be what the 80,000 B was for, a 20% deposit?

The also say they have scrapped a rice deal with the Ivory Coast because of a change of Govt there.

Would seem more likely the Ivory Coast scrapped any deal because of the 20% rotten rice they were sold last time.

[monty1412]

This is news ???

New would have been

Anti -Graft Agency find regularities in govt-govt rice contract

For every tonne of rice involved in the scheme there is 100 Baht that has gone somewhere it shouldn't have

[Moruya]

This is news ???

New would have been

Anti -Graft Agency find regularities in govt-govt rice contract

For every tonne of rice involved in the scheme there is 100 Baht that  has gone somewhere it shouldn't have

You can safely multiply that by 30

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Neilly]

NACC commissioner Vicha Mahakhun, as a member of a sub-committee examining corruption in the rice pledging scheme, said his agency is seeking details from six banks which issued 1,460 cashier's cheques for the government-to-government rice release contract.

Now what are they up to? Selling it a sack at a time

[Ricardo]

What sort of major government-to-government export-deals would require 1460 cheques to settle, drawn on local banks ?

Surely you export a million tons of rice, and you get a bank-transfer or two from overseas, job done ?

Or are these deals not actually g2g as represented by the government, but via agents, with all sorts of commissions or other fees involved ?

Only when they declassify these 'national-secrets' will the Thai public, and Moody's, be able to see what's really going on here.

[bigbamboo]

Well at least they got something for their rotten rice and not had to pay to get someone to take it away.

[soi41]

When is this house of cards going to collapse ?

Sadly, 90% of the Thais have no idea about, that "their" government is robbing them blind !

[NongKhaiKid]

Thailand the hub of euphemisms. Could by any chance " irregularities " mean theft, fraud and corruption?

[Katipo]

You don't say?

[chainarong]

Me thinks the whole of the rice pledge scheme stinks of something and the main players are sh!!!ing themselves because they've been found out , with cover ups galore by professionals, this will keep everyone entertained for sometime to come

[Thai at Heart]

So this govt to govt contract is now being investigated, which surely would put it inthe public domain. So how come no details????

[ramrod711]

Shocking! I heard that the rice scam was a huge success, i have to stop listening to Pheu Thai.

[NongKhaiKid]

Me thinks the whole of the rice pledge scheme stinks of something and the main players are sh!!!ing themselves because they've been found out , with cover ups galore by professionals, this will keep everyone entertained for sometime to come

Les Fiddleabres

[slapout]

Just hope its not the DSI who this is turned over to, for action. Maybe the PM and the Foreign Minister could answer some questions, I recall they have done a lot of travelling, promoting the purchase of Thai rice. Even signed a few MOU as per their press releases.

[DeeMaiDee]

And when the whole can of worms splits open and the actual losses come to light the taxpayers will realise they've been shafted and PT will dust off their hands and say "Not me" and start a witch hunt that leads nowhere... End of story... Billions lost buying votes, instead of developing the country.

[LuckyLew]

Now this must be the surprise news story of the week

More PTP graft stories

Well Yingluck .. you asked for someone to show you the graft / greed / robbery

Well there you have it ... will you now do anything about it .... I doubt it ...

[webfact]

RICE-PLEDGING
Commerce insists no irregularity in Bt80,000 cheque
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Commerce Ministry insisted that there is no irregularity in the Bt80,000 cheque, in response to a National Anti-corruption Commission notice about a payment of an unusually small amount for a government-to-government rice deal.

It said in a statement issued today that the cheque carrying Bt80,000 was issued for the final cargo of 50 sacks of rice as part of a deal agreed on a large-scale purchase involving 20,000 sacks.

The statement was released at the press conference today at the ministry.

On a pay-before-transport condition under the statement said was a standard procedure, this unidentified buyer paid for the last shipment of around 50 100-kg sacks worth around Bt80,000 with this cashier’s cheque, said the statement. Most of the entire shipment had earlier been transported out of a warehouse, also under the pay-before-transport condition, and this shipment of the final 50 sacks was the last out, thus resulting in a cheque issued for its price of Bt80,000, added the statement.

This shipment had been sold as a wholesale involving an entire stack consisting 2,000 tonnes or rice, or around 20,000 sacks, under a separate condition. The Commerce Ministry’s statement said the pay-before-transport condition had been adopted for any purchases made either through government-to-government or individual deals, between private businesses and independent buyers, and the Commerce Ministry, but did not specify whether this deal in question was a G2G deal or other types of contracts.


-- The Nation 2013-07-11

[pedro01]

ok - so how many kg in a sack? I guess we can figure out the selling price...

[Valentine]

ok - so how many kg in a sack? I guess we can figure out the selling price...

It is in the above story. 100kg. I believe that makes it 16 Baht/kg. Pretty cheap compared to what we pay in the supermarket.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Valentine

[tominbkk]

When is this house of cards going to collapse ?

Sadly, 90% of the Thais have no idea about, that "their" government is robbing them blind !

My secretary is a red shirt (from a red shirt political family). We always have fun and lighthearted discussions about politics. Lately though she never seems to know what is going on in the news and doesn't care to know. I would think there are a lot of confused reds out there now who consider the best option to claim ignorance.

[tominbkk]

RICE-PLEDGING

Commerce insists no irregularity in Bt80,000 cheque

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Commerce Ministry insisted that there is no irregularity in the Bt80,000 cheque, in response to a National Anti-corruption Commission notice about a payment of an unusually small amount for a government-to-government rice deal.

It said in a statement issued today that the cheque carrying Bt80,000 was issued for the final cargo of 50 sacks of rice as part of a deal agreed on a large-scale purchase involving 20,000 sacks.

The statement was released at the press conference today at the ministry.

On a pay-before-transport condition under the statement said was a standard procedure, this unidentified buyer paid for the last shipment of around 50 100-kg sacks worth around Bt80,000 with this cashier’s cheque, said the statement. Most of the entire shipment had earlier been transported out of a warehouse, also under the pay-before-transport condition, and this shipment of the final 50 sacks was the last out, thus resulting in a cheque issued for its price of Bt80,000, added the statement.

This shipment had been sold as a wholesale involving an entire stack consisting 2,000 tonnes or rice, or around 20,000 sacks, under a separate condition. The Commerce Ministry’s statement said the pay-before-transport condition had been adopted for any purchases made either through government-to-government or individual deals, between private businesses and independent buyers, and the Commerce Ministry, but did not specify whether this deal in question was a G2G deal or other types of contracts.

-- The Nation 2013-07-11

So then where are the big checks?

[Peabody]

RICE-PLEDGINGCommerce insists no irregularity in Bt80,000 cheque

The NationBANGKOK: -- The Commerce Ministry insisted that there is no irregularity in the Bt80,000 cheque, in response to a National Anti-corruption Commission notice about a payment of an unusually small amount for a government-to-government rice deal.

It said in a statement issued today that the cheque carrying Bt80,000 was issued for the final cargo of 50 sacks of rice as part of a deal agreed on a large-scale purchase involving 20,000 sacks.

The statement was released at the press conference today at the ministry.

On a pay-before-transport condition under the statement said was a standard procedure, this unidentified buyer paid for the last shipment of around 50 100-kg sacks worth around Bt80,000 with this cashier’s cheque, said the statement. Most of the entire shipment had earlier been transported out of a warehouse, also under the pay-before-transport condition, and this shipment of the final 50 sacks was the last out, thus resulting in a cheque issued for its price of Bt80,000, added the statement.

This shipment had been sold as a wholesale involving an entire stack consisting 2,000 tonnes or rice, or around 20,000 sacks, under a separate condition. The Commerce Ministry’s statement said the pay-before-transport condition had been adopted for any purchases made either through government-to-government or individual deals, between private businesses and independent buyers, and the Commerce Ministry, but did not specify whether this deal in question was a G2G deal or other types of contracts.

-- The Nation 2013-07-11

So then where are the big checks?

Even more interesting... Who is the nut paying 16,000 THB/ton for rice?

[ginjag]

If Thailand trades chickens/prawns for ships planes etc, surely with the big Chinese say-they could take the stockpiles of rice in exchange for the high speed trains, the other monies for the paid-back corruption from the guilty officers that collect in their every day work.

Edited July 11, 2013 by ginjag

[Soikhaonoiken]

No Surprise here,, and it will go on and on and on.

[surangw]

the bigger underlying story is that the Commission was no paid off in time.

[fstarbkk]

THB 80K sounds like a government-to-government rice deal with Lichtenstein.