Caretaker PM Yingluck dragged into rice subsidy scandal

[marcusd]

When in the capacity of CEO/Prime Minister/Chairperson, you are responsible for your actions. If therefore corruption is rampant you my dear have to face the consequences. You have to realize this. you have to be aware of the dangers when you take the helm.

On things such as this --mega scale you cannot say give me time as you said before it is not wearing your people are not as stupid as you think.

I a Perfect World ginjag. But she IS BUSY - shopping,

[scorecard]

Still waiting for the Dems to take advantage of the situation and make some promises to these disappointed people, relayed via someone neutral and untainted. Its almost like they don`t want to try and win these people over. (the ONLY way they can ever achieve power democratically)

Instead they just back a corrupt lunatic running around Bangkok shouting "Victory is Ours" at ever smaller crowds.

You can see it anyway you want.

Many would disagree with you, well realizing that if the 2 Feb elections go ahead then it will be just more of the same.

Time for reform, then elections.

[robertson468]

An interesting journalistic investigation would be to find out in which regions farmers have been paid and in which region farmers have not been paid and to correlate this to the dates the farmers sold their rice to the Government. Have payments been made strictly in line with the dates purchased, or have payments been made by some other method, say some regions being paid before others h-m-m-m-m-m

Edited January 16, 2014 by robertson468

[bangarang]

Not sure how this group or any group can expect to get any checks from the government when its shutdown... Sounds like more fuel to the fire that could lead into violence against the anti-government protests.

[SICHONSTEVE]

I think somebody on the Editorial staff need to seriously consider employing a pre-university grade mathematician to check the numbers published in The Nation.

Not a good situation really. So farmers whom the BAAC cannot afford to pay are having to use their land as collateral to borrow money from the same bank that cannot afford to pay them the money for the rice pledging scheme. How ironic. The ice holding up Thailand's economy gets thinner each day, whoop whoop, it will soon be time to transfer a lot of GBP or USD into baht - happy days.

sadly this is true many farmers that the government havent paid yet are loaning money from the very same bank that cant afford to pay them. The irony right! a frie d of mine her family is in that very situation living in sisaket being rice farmers

........and they voted for........and they will vote for them again.....serves them right for being stupid!!!!

[JRSoul]

The Poo is really going to hit the fan when she is forced to admit how much she personally profited from this policy.

[englishoak]

I think somebody on the Editorial staff need to seriously consider employing a pre-university grade mathematician to check the numbers published in The Nation.

Not a good situation really. So farmers whom the BAAC cannot afford to pay are having to use their land as collateral to borrow money from the same bank that cannot afford to pay them the money for the rice pledging scheme. How ironic. The ice holding up Thailand's economy gets thinner each day, whoop whoop, it will soon be time to transfer a lot of GBP or USD into baht - happy days.

sadly this is true many farmers that the government havent paid yet are loaning money from the very same bank that cant afford to pay them. The irony right! a frie d of mine her family is in that very situation living in sisaket being rice farmers

........and they voted for........and they will vote for them again.....serves them right for being stupid!!!!

ahhh come on you try being shafted and ignored forever got little education then someone comes along sorts out your mums health your wages go up delivers a raise in living standards of a huge uplift and then sells you a rice pledge and you wouldnt buy into it ? naa of course you wouldnt... much

[ShannonT]

My family from Ubon just called and said they have received their rice payment this afternoon and their uncle in Buriram had also received it this morning. If you have family members in the North or Northeast, check with them and have them go ask at the office, most probably the payments are now ready to be claimed. Good news indeed.

Now that's interesting news indeed.

It suggests that farmers in the Pheu Thai voting Isaan region get paid, but not those from less enthousiastic on Pheu Thai Lower North and Central regions.

Must be pure coincidence

Buriram is not Pheu Thai

Correct, my mistake. Buriram is Newin BJT country. Didn't BJT indicate to want to join the February 2nd elections?

I guess more information is needed before we continue this conversation.

So according to your views, everyone who joins the election is automatically pro- Puea Thai? There are dozens of parties registered for the elections that are not in any way for Puea Thai or allied with them. They are just pro-vote.

[rubl]

Correct, my mistake. Buriram is Newin BJT country. Didn't BJT indicate to want to join the February 2nd elections?

I guess more information is needed before we continue this conversation.

So according to your views, everyone who joins the election is automatically pro- Puea Thai? There are dozens of parties registered for the elections that are not in any way for Puea Thai or allied with them. They are just pro-vote.

You seem to misunderstand me. I'm just wondering if a timely payout in some areas and no payout in others is some wicket ploy by the Pheu Thai led coalition caretaker government. Just keeping some happy. Also there have been rumours BJT may join Pheu THai again after possible elections, just like they did with Pheu Thai predecessor PPP.

Note that a boycot of elections is not the same as anti-vote or pro-vote. It is just that lots of Thai people feel that elections under unchanged circumstances with still a Thaksin thinks Pheu Thai acts party involved with a few Shinawatras involved, is not a good idea. The undemocratic shenanigans of the government have shown a commitment to Thaksin first, not to the Thai people first. The 'blanket amnesty bill' was the last drop in the overflowing bucket. That's when the protests really started and that's why the protests started and continue.

Edited January 16, 2014 by rubl

[SICHONSTEVE]

I think somebody on the Editorial staff need to seriously consider employing a pre-university grade mathematician to check the numbers published in The Nation.

Not a good situation really. So farmers whom the BAAC cannot afford to pay are having to use their land as collateral to borrow money from the same bank that cannot afford to pay them the money for the rice pledging scheme. How ironic. The ice holding up Thailand's economy gets thinner each day, whoop whoop, it will soon be time to transfer a lot of GBP or USD into baht - happy days.

sadly this is true many farmers that the government havent paid yet are loaning money from the very same bank that cant afford to pay them. The irony right! a frie d of mine her family is in that very situation living in sisaket being rice farmers

........and they voted for........and they will vote for them again.....serves them right for being stupid!!!!

ahhh come on you try being shafted and ignored forever got little education then someone comes along sorts out your mums health your wages go up delivers a raise in living standards of a huge uplift and then sells you a rice pledge and you wouldnt buy into it ? naa of course you wouldnt... much

No way would I!!!

Two main reasons - Thaksin Shinawatra and stupid populist policies that I and many other sane people realised would unravel.

I appreciate that the people involved are pretty much uneducated on politics so I suppose that they sort of have an excuse in a way!!!

I have been into politics all my life and I can see through all of what is going on so it didn't take me very long to establish where my loyalties lie. Only one thing, I cannot understand for the life of me how so many farangs can be duped so easily when it is so blatantly obvious who the 'bad guys' are. Even then their loyalties stick when they are shown up for what they are (confused to the extreme by this irrational behaviour of theirs)!!

[spirit47]

Huhhuuh, where are you reds...nothing to say? I love it when they shut up...

[SICHONSTEVE]

Huhhuuh, where are you reds...nothing to say? I love it when they shut up...

That's only because it has nothing to do with (fascist lol) Suthep!!

Have you ever tried to defend the indefensible? not an easy thing to do when the facts are laid out in front of you!!!

It's obvious that they have no answer so its best she says her goodbyes and clears off out of it and does us all a favour.

[DGIE]

After some research, I found out that there is still 170 Billion Baht unpaid to the farmers.

Headache of the government.

India and Vietnam are now happy exporting their rice because of Thailand rice is in warehouses.

While in warehouses of private individuals, government is also paying rents for stocking the rice there.

And no more warehouse across Thailand for the coming crops! That is if the farmers still want to sell their cropping to the government.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Just read that the commerce and deputy commerce ministers plus 13 others are facing charges over the rice scam and Yingluck has been implicated as well!!!

Oh thank you dear god!! and well done the NACC, you have served your country well.

[tomyummer]

When will they start tracking the rice, money, deals, accounts, etc.? Surely as this used government money, the records should all be public, no?

[SICHONSTEVE]

When will they start tracking the rice, money, deals, accounts, etc.? Surely as this used government money, the records should all be public, no?

Don't be so ridiculous.

How can they make something public when they don't even know (read - don't want us to know).

[timber]

Not sure how you get dragged into something you are accountable for...

[Thait Spot]

I think its high time the Constitution Court judges handed out Thaksin's and Poo's mobile numbers to the rice farmers

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[SICHONSTEVE]

I think its high time the Constitution Court judges handed out Thaksin's and Poo's mobile numbers to the rice farmers Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Not long now and victory will be ours!!

[allan michaud]

What a dumb headline. She's head of the govt, she is head of the rice scam committee, she basically instigated the whole damn thing (on behalf of her brother). She is most responsible of all.

As usual we have totally confusing numbers being thrown around, however they did finally give us some interesting figures a couple of days back so it’s much clearer just how much has been lost.

In the 3 years since starting the project until 2012-13 season the govt said it bought 50m tons costing 700billion baht (average cost per ton B14,000).

They admitted they still had 10m tons in storage with 5m tons awaiting shipment. Now it wasn’t clear if the 5m was part of the 10m or additional stock, but lets be generous and assume they do have 15m tones left to sell. They also confirmed they had only managed to bring in 180billion so far and as they appear to have sold 35m tons (average cost per ton B5,100) for that, we can reasonably assume the remaining rice will be sold at a similar rate, giving them another 80billion for a grand total of 260 billion being made. So Thailand has lost at least USD15 billion over the past 3 years on this scam.

I believe there are something like 1million farmers involved in the scheme so in fact they could have simply paid each farmer B100,000 each year instead and saved around USD 5 billion... and not ruined the countries position in the global rice market.

[SICHONSTEVE]

What a dumb headline. She's head of the govt, she is head of the rice scam committee, she basically instigated the whole dam_n thing (on behalf of her brother). She is most responsible of all.

As usual we have totally confusing numbers being thrown around, however they did finally give us some interesting figures a couple of days back so it’s much clearer just how much has been lost.

In the 3 years since starting the project until 2012-13 season the govt said it bought 50m tons costing 700billion baht (average cost per ton B14,000).

They admitted they still had 10m tons in storage with 5m tons awaiting shipment. Now it wasn’t clear if the 5m was part of the 10m or additional stock, but lets be generous and assume they do have 15m tones left to sell. They also confirmed they had only managed to bring in 180billion so far and as they appear to have sold 35m tons (average cost per ton B5,100) for that, we can reasonably assume the remaining rice will be sold at a similar rate, giving them another 80billion for a grand total of 260 billion being made. So Thailand has lost at least USD15 billion over the past 3 years on this scam.

I believe there are something like 1million farmers involved in the scheme so in fact they could have simply paid each farmer B100,000 each year instead and saved around USD 5 billion... and not ruined the countries position in the global rice market.

What!! you mean as in precisely that which Abhisit suggested before they embarked upon this pathetic scam. Did they listen to the experts warnings? no, Thaksin didn't and now they are going to have to pay for it, in spades!!!

Serves them right for being so naïve and stupid!!

[tomyummer]

What a dumb headline. She's head of the govt, she is head of the rice scam committee, she basically instigated the whole dam_n thing (on behalf of her brother). She is most responsible of all...

As she is also the Minister of Defense (surely because of her extensive military background) I wonder what deals are hiding under her body armor too?

[Baerboxer]

The Poo is really going to hit the fan when she is forced to admit how much she personally profited from this policy.

She will never tell, same as she'll never answer the Ombudsman. The truth, what's that matter. A few tears, a few "honest" mistakes, some more tears and a nice smirk to her mates. Will be the usual accomplished performance from the actress.

Perjury - the law according to Tarit says not.

[gk10002000]

I don't remember the word "caretaker" ever being used before the recent protests. It wasn't used when she was "elected" before.

[Mister Fixit]

"Jurin Laksanawisit, Democrat deputy spokesman, said the government has also postponed payment of rubber purchases from southern farmers to Feb 14."

Feb 14 is a national holi(y)day, i know enough.

Since when was Valentine's Day a national holiday in Thailand? Or anywhere, for that matter?

[Mosha]

"Jurin Laksanawisit, Democrat deputy spokesman, said the government has also postponed payment of rubber purchases from southern farmers to Feb 14."

Feb 14 is a national holi(y)day, i know enough.

Since when was Valentine's Day a national holiday in Thailand? Or anywhere, for that matter?

I just checked the calendar, the 14th is red. It's an holiday.

[Jack Mountain]

"Jurin Laksanawisit, Democrat deputy spokesman, said the government has also postponed payment of rubber purchases from southern farmers to Feb 14."

Feb 14 is a national holi(y)day, i know enough.

Since when was Valentine's Day a national holiday in Thailand? Or anywhere, for that matter?

http://www.thaiworldview.com/feast/feast.htm

[waza]

Yingluck is looking stressed.......

[jaidam]

Yingluck is looking stressed.......

ying.jpg

Excellent photo, just look at that pet lip no doubt accompanied by some foot stomping. Her petulance is a warning to Khun Suthep that this would be one extremely high maintenance captive if he goes ahead and abducts her. Honestly, not worth the trouble would be my advise.

[outsider]

Dragged into??

hehe exactly she is neck deep into it already

In my opinion, I think she jumped into it with eyes wide open. From the very beginning.