EC rejects government’s 130-billion baht rice loans

BANGKOK: -- The Election Commission (EC) has rejected the caretaker government ‘s request to seek 130 billion baht loans to finance its rice-pledging scheme, and the government-to-government rice sales to China.

EC commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakor said that the government had made four-point request to the EC and ask whether it could go ahead with these schemes.

The four schemes are the sale of packed rice, the use of bank’s liquidity for rice payment, the rice sales to China on G-to-G agreement, and the 130-billion baht rice loans.

He said that the EC has already sent replies to request to the government but the Commerce Minister Niwatthamlong Boonsongpaisan has said the reply to the Chinese rice sale is ambiguous and wanted more explanation.

The minister reasoned that the EC’s reply was alike the verdict of the International Court of Justice which could be interpreted because the EC wrote in the reply that the rice sale risks violation of law and need to be carry on with caution, the commissioner said.

He said .that the Commerce Ministry has resent the request on the matter and the EC would raise this for discussion next week along with the request for the 130-billion baht rice loan sought by the Finance Minister.

But he said that the EC has earlier told that all four schemes could not be carried on but is ready to hear more explanation from the caretaker ministers

The EC commissioner said the EC has rejected the 130-billion baht rice loan scheme, and the using of 50 billion baht fund from the liquidity of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to pay rice farmers.

But he said that he has learned that the government has already used the bank liquidity for rice payment, therefore the EC has warned that it has to take its own responsibility.

He added that all the four requests could not be carried out under Section 181 of the Constitution if they commit to the new government, have impact on election, are government revenues, and use government facilities

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/ec-rejects-governments-130-billion-baht-rice-loans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ec-rejects-governments-130-billion-baht-rice-loans

-- Thai PBS 2014-01-16

THE END !

But he said that he has learned that the government has already used the bank liquidity for rice payment, therefore the EC has warned that it has to take its own responsibility.

Whoops.

How much of it?

And did any get to the farmers?

Another nail in the coffin .

Goodbye yingluck and your scamming corrupt governent.

If memory serves it was RobbieNZ who pointed out that it is the duty of the Finance Minister to ensure that their is enough in the kitty to manage costs during a caretaker government. Clearly another 'kitty', FM Kittirat aka The Lying King has failed to do this.

I'm not going to suggest that this he do the honourable thing and resign because Thai politicians don't do 'honourable' but the damage he has done to PT's election prospects might be worthy of a demotion to a political backwater as with Chalerm's posting to the national Jobcentre.

The fat lady is warming up, the pooch is getting screwed and Elvis is at the door.

And now the end is near, and so I face....

But he said that he has learned that the government has already used the bank liquidity for rice payment, therefore the EC has warned that it has to take its own responsibility.

Whoops.

How much of it?

And did any get to the farmers?

I believe it was 3 Bn a day as reported yesterday by MCOT.

So their fingers are still in the cookie jar even though they were told they could not borrow without permission. Yet another breech of the constitution.

This is seriously GAME OVER! The NACC will have yet another case to examine here, and Yingluck can surely no longer survive.

Wondering what is going to go through the minds of the rice farmers who are into the illegal loan sharks for a shitload of cash? I suspect fear!!

Goodnight Vienna

Channel new Asia is reporting that the NCCC is expected to announce it's findings into the pledging scheme today which could result in ministers, government officials, civil servants etc being indicted.

If, by any chance, this actually happens how far up the ladder will culpability go or will it be a case of the usual lower level scapegoats ?

This is all very well to make the gov pay for messing up to hell with them but.

1 What about the poor farmers ?

2 What has the EC got to do with any of it ?

OK OK i admit it i havnt read the mandate of the EC and all its responsibilities, I suppose i should have guessed it would have to rubber stamp any loans of finance, i mean it wouldnt be the treasury or some other financial dept of course not, its the EC i should have known that from all the dept of silly walks they have here ....

Poor farmers screwed again by PTP

Hopefully it will be a lesson learned by them

Pretty irrelevant as far as the Feb 2nd election goes as PTP are petty much running un-opposed

But since the election will not have enough members to form a quorum, this might make things interestng

What will PTP do? the honorable thing to do would be to fall on the sword, but in Thailand most do not do the honorable thing. especially politicians. They will deny / blame / and accuse others and never say "Sorry" or "my mistake"

The rice scheme is an on going scheme. Must the caretaker government stop paying all their employees' wages?

Before 2011 election, AV administration approved many populists subsidy and carried on during caretaker period. Should all be stopped now? I heard these were approved by present team of commissioners. IMO, they are sabotaging the government's on going projects and bring hardships to the people.

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Edited January 16, 201412 yr by icommunity

What a setback for the government in power and the Shinawatra family.
There goes many votes from farmers in the north...

I think the Shinawatra epoch is about to end very soon.

I keep hearing this Paul Simon song, can't place it...

How come the Eloctoral Commission has anything to say in this matter? Can anyone please explain?

This just blows my mind. How does Taksin keep getting the votes?

Very confusing to me. You do this and they still vote for you?

Amazing!

What a setback for the government in power and the Shinawatra family.

There goes many votes from farmers in the north...

I think the Shinawatra epoch is about to end very soon.

I wish, but I am sure they will find a way to spin this and blame others. Soon some red supporters will come by telling people it was not the governments responsibility to make sure they had enough money before resigning. To make sure things could go on. Also those same people would conveniently forget that even before the government resigned they were late with paying.

One way or another the farmers will get paid. Even in the event of a new govt, those payments would have to be honoured. The EC is saying the current govt does not have the authority, in caretaker mode, to commit the funds in the way they are proposing

But he said that he has learned that the government has already used the bank liquidity for rice payment, therefore the EC has warned that it has to take its own responsibility.

Whoops.

How much of it?

And did any get to the farmers?

You have to understand that soon a lot of overseas tickets have to be purchased......................not for the farmers of course.

One way or another the farmers will get paid. Even in the event of a new govt, those payments would have to be honoured. The EC is saying the current govt does not have the authority, in caretaker mode, to commit the funds in the way they are proposing

Lets hope so.. don't want the farmers to be the ones that pay for these mistakes. I don't think anyone is suggesting the farmers don't get paid, but now they should check the whose rice scam to see how much has been lied and those government to government transactions should be checked too.

I for one would say get the money to the farmers now but let the responsible ministers be personally responsible for the funds.

One way or another the farmers will get paid. Even in the event of a new govt, those payments would have to be honoured. The EC is saying the current govt does not have the authority, in caretaker mode, to commit the funds in the way they are proposing

No my friend, the EC is saying that it doesn't allow the government to dig a deeper hole to keep their voters happy.

They also said that they don't allow them to bankrupt the framers bank, e.g. use the farmers own money to pay them, but it seems it's too late already for that.

Now take of the pink red goggles

How come the Eloctoral Commission has anything to say in this matter? Can anyone please explain?

A caretaker government have very limited money. They can follow already implemented rules, but anything that get close to new have to be looked at by the EC. The reason behind this is to stop the ruling party using state funds to sway votes before an election.

One way or another the farmers will get paid. Even in the event of a new govt, those payments would have to be honoured. The EC is saying the current govt does not have the authority, in caretaker mode, to commit the funds in the way they are proposing

No my friend, the EC is saying that it doesn't allow the government to dig a deeper hole to keep their voters happy.

They also said that they don't allow them to bankrupt the framers bank, e.g. use the farmers own money to pay them, but it seems it's too late already for that.

Now take of the pink red goggles

I am not so sure.. and even as a anti government supporter i would feel its a bad idea not to pay the farmers. The government is to blame and should be caught for corruption mismanagement ect. But the farmers should not be the victims.

This just blows my mind. How does Taksin keep getting the votes?

Very confusing to me. You do this and they still vote for you?

Amazing!

Why would Thais blame the action of EC on the government? Why is that confusing for you?

This is all very well to make the gov pay for messing up to hell with them but.

1 What about the poor farmers ?

2 What has the EC got to do with any of it ?

OK OK i admit it i havnt read the mandate of the EC and all its responsibilities, I suppose i should have guessed it would have to rubber stamp any loans of finance, i mean it wouldnt be the treasury or some other financial dept of course not, its the EC i should have known that from all the dept of silly walks they have here ....

Because extra budgetary borrowing the government wants to undertake must be first approved by parliament. But because parliament is dissolved, they can lodge a special request for the EC to make a judgement and approve it.

In this case, they didn't and rightly so.

How come the Eloctoral Commission has anything to say in this matter? Can anyone please explain?

A caretaker government have very limited money. They can follow already implemented rules, but anything that get close to new have to be looked at by the EC. The reason behind this is to stop the ruling party using state funds to sway votes before an election.

If the money was in the bank already through the supposed sales it wouldn't be an issue. But this is fresh finance.

The whole rice subsidy farce is a busted flush. End of story.

How come the Eloctoral Commission has anything to say in this matter? Can anyone please explain?

A caretaker government have very limited money. They can follow already implemented rules, but anything that get close to new have to be looked at by the EC. The reason behind this is to stop the ruling party using state funds to sway votes before an election.

If the money was in the bank already through the supposed sales it wouldn't be an issue. But this is fresh finance.

The whole rice subsidy farce is a busted flush. End of story.

One way or another the farmers will get paid. Even in the event of a new govt, those payments would have to be honoured. The EC is saying the current govt does not have the authority, in caretaker mode, to commit the funds in the way they are proposing

Lets hope so.. don't want the farmers to be the ones that pay for these mistakes. I don't think anyone is suggesting the farmers don't get paid, but now they should check the whose rice scam to see how much has been lied and those government to government transactions should be checked too.

I for one would say get the money to the farmers now but let the responsible ministers be personally responsible for the funds.

sorry to say they don't deserve to be paid If I believe a lying crook and hand over some goods on promise to pay later then I deserve what I get if I'm cheated.

They accepted the bribe for their vote and now get what they deserve

It is high time some of people here ansi n Thailand woke up to what Taksin is and if it means they become ever more dirt poor then hopefully it might be a lesson for future not to be so gullible and naive

Its Taksin, his clan and cronies who've stolen most of rice buying money so let them pay it back which of course they wont

This Taksin regime will go down in history more than any other here in Thailand for amount of corruption and stealing peoples money

Their goes hundreds of new hospitals, much needed improvements to education, relieving of poverty here for maybe decades

And all for greed and revenge lust for power of one megalomaniac but let those who worship him now pay price for such stupidity

No sympathy at all for farmers and so many will loose their land due to debts and loose it to those they worship and support Serves them right

'And now we face ... the final curtain' ... So the next move will be for Pandorra's box to open and the blame game begins

How come the Eloctoral Commission has anything to say in this matter? Can anyone please explain?

A caretaker government have very limited money. They can follow already implemented rules, but anything that get close to new have to be looked at by the EC. The reason behind this is to stop the ruling party using state funds to sway votes before an election.

The rice scheme is an ongoing scheme, not anything new or close to New. The commissioners are sabotaging the government and bring hardships to the peoples.

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Lets hope so.. don't want the farmers to be the ones that pay for these mistakes. I don't think anyone is suggesting the farmers don't get paid, but now they should check the whose rice scam to see how much has been lied and those government to government transactions should be checked too.

I for one would say get the money to the farmers now but let the responsible ministers be personally responsible for the funds.

don't want the farmers to be the ones that pay for these mistakes

It's callous to say this, but, why not? I'll be, literally, paying for it (as every other tax payer) and didn't have any say in the matter, so why not the farmers?

Democracy is not just a right to vote, it involves the responsibility to do it with the best interest of the country in mind. If they voted for a government that was promising them an obviously flawed and unsustainable scheme it's their own darned fault if later the rug is pulled from under them when reality asserts itself.

I'm too busy now to go looking, but I'm sure if I'd search for opinion polls at the time of the last electoral campaign the farmer block was probably drooling over the prospect of being paid 15.000 / 20.000 tons per ton of rice, never mind the consequences.