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[webfact]

Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme



BANGKOK: -- The Office of the Auditor-General has advised caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to scrap the rice-pledging scheme reasoning the scheme was plagued with irregularities, corruptions at all levels of implementation and significantly does not benefit the majority poor farmers.

Poor farmers get merely 18% from the rice budget while the rest go to high and middle income earning farmers.

In the letter dated January 30, to the caretaker prime minister, the deputy auditor-general Ms Prapee Angkinanda, who acted on behalf of the auditor-general, recalled the rice-pledging scheme which was first started in 2005-2007 and proved to have so many weak points or have risks at all steps of the implementation starting from registration of farmers joining the scheme to the release of rice into the markets. All the process posed high risk for false registration and corruptions.

She said false registration of farmers led to exaggerated number of registered farmers, while officials appointed to each place designated for rice pledging lack knowledge in moisture measurement, thus could not act to ensure fairness for farmers in term of the quality and moisture of the rice they pledged under the scheme.

She said adulteration detection in rice pledged by farmers was also unrealistic and unfair to farmers.

For the rice-pledging scheme implemented by the caretaker government for 2011-2012, she said that the Office of the Auditor-General had monitored and followed up the performances of four relevant government agencies namely the Public Warehouse Organisation, the Marketing Organisation for Farmers, the Commerce Ministry and the Finance Ministry on matters related to rice-pledging scheme but received delayed and incomplete information on the following issues.

They include the amount of paddy pledged under the scheme, the issuance of rice vouchers, the stockpile of rice, the release of rice from the stocks, the remaining rice in the stocks, and the number of rice mills joining the scheme by end of June 27, 2013.

She said that the accounting report on the pledging scheme ended June 27, submitted to the Office of Auditor-General by the accounting period closing subcommittee came up with several observations, namely inaccurate amount of rice in government stockpiles, frequent correction of figures. These problems had disrupted the subcommittee to close its accounting period in time.

She also said the remaining rice in the government stockpile was also excessively high of 2.98 million tons and the figure could not be verified.

The government’s pledging scheme for 2011/2012 first crop, for 2012 second crop, and for 2012/2013 crop (1), at end of May 31, 2013 were found to suffer over 332.37 billion baht loss, she said. The loss was even higher than the last accounting ended January 31, 2013 of over 111.4 billion baht, she said.

She said that at end of May 31, 2013, there are more than 13 million tons of rice in the government stock. If the caretaker government releases rice in the stock at price lower than the book value price, and any delay in the release will result in declining quality and price of rice, as well as warehouse expenditures, she said the caretaker government must be held responsibility for the loss from all its schemes, both in term of principals and burrowing rates.

To avoid the anticipated immense damages to the country’s fiscal policy, high public debt, and adverse impact on farmers who have not yet been paid, she advised that she revised and scrapped the rice-pledging scheme for the next crop season and to consider other remedy measures to help farmers.

She quoted the research of Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) which revealed that the rice-pledging scheme benefited mostly high-income earning farmers ( 30% of farmers). 39% of the rice budget for the scheme goes to this group, while middle income earning farmers (40%) gets 43%, and poor farmers (30%) get the least or just 18% of the rice budget.

(photo : http://www.isranews.org/)

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/auditor-general-tells-caretaker-pm-scrap-rice-pledging-scheme/


-- Thai PBS 2014-02-04

[Costas2008]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

[Gweiloman]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

[Robby nz]

What makes him think she will listen ?

She still hasn't answered about the illegal issuing of big brothers passport.

That's another office that will have to be purged if the ever get back into Govt.

Cant have someone telling them what to do.

[Suriya4]

The Dems systems is better.

No false registration of farmers, no led to exaggerated number of registered farmers.

Just hand over payment without seeing the physical rice.

[trogers]

CMPO should instruct the police to investgate the Auditor-General Office and take legal actions against them for not supporting an important Govt policy...

[ginjag]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

Normally at the ballot box, IN THIS CASE replaced via the court.

[chainarong]

Well kiss my butt, just exactly as all the expats in Thailand have been suggesting since this hideous scheme was introduced , the only people that wont see this as a way out of a bad deal is the PTP , they will just dig their way into a mess that will get bigger and bigger, arrogant , corrupt, intimidating and down right dangerous , the PTP right to rule like it or not will continue, it's business as usual for Thailand.

[Red Snake]

I agree it needs to be stopped now.

[Pib]

Khun Auditor-General: you are talking to a wall.

[Suriya4]

These poor farmers have NO right to stell the people's tax-payer money.

The farmers should go after Yingluck for compensation from her personal wealth, not from the tax-payers of Bangkok.

Bangkok people pay fair prices from rice they consume. Why should Bangkok people give free money to farmers?

[Nickymaster]

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pheu-thai-spokesman-gets-one-year-jailterm-without-suspension/

The guy should be in jail for many reasons

[MaxLee]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

What the auditor general wants, and what Yingluck wants,... doesn't really matter when the man in Dubai has the final say...

[spirit47]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

You really believe they interested in the poor...Sorry, but its all business what they doing...And to much dilettantes...

[mightyatom]

And so with this report, we can assume that the house of cards is starting to collapse.

The PTP is now almost certainly 'yesterday's news'. They can't possibly hoodwink their strong voter base that the scheme is to continue.

This election will probably be voided, and before a new election can be convened the next harvest will be launched and the farmers will want to know if this harvest is under the scheme.

The government can not hang on that long before making a decision. They can't pledge for next season when they have not even paid for this season and when the time comes they have to tell their voter power base that 'there will be no subsidies next year and all our stockpiled rice will be your number one competitor next season and the season after that and the season after that.... Sorry but I think you won't be making any profit for the next 3 years.'

'Sorry about this. It is the protester's fault, not ours..... honest.'

[siampolee]

Poor farmers get merely 18% from the rice budget while the rest go to high and middle income earning farmers.

Indeed a well planned money laundering scam scheme designed to channel monies to those least in need and sympathetic to the Shinwatra P.T.P. self enriching policies.

One wonders just how much the privileged 82% may have lost financially if in fact that 82% have lost anything at all.

At least this boy made some money didn't he.

Controversial former prime minister lives in Dubai as a fugitive from Thailand to avoid corruption charges. His influence over sister Yingluck, Thailand's current prime minister, whom he nominated for the position, is said to be waning. Ousted in 2006 coup, Shinawatra disclosed to FORBES in October that Thai authorities had returned to him close to $1 billion of his $2.3 billion in frozen assets. His [...] more

http://www.forbes.co...sin-shinawatra/

Edited February 4, 2014 by siampolee

[mightyatom]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

I would say that this is anything but an escape route.

Read my post above this one and it will explain the government's position by declaring the rice scheme dead.

They will never be able to introduce another populist policy anywhere near along the lines of this scheme, and any new policy they try to use in a pre-election run up will be pulled apart and probably blocked judicially.

[icommunity]

Target the wrong doers and the saboteurs rather than the rice pledging scheme. Who are those unscrupulous people, the auditor general office should reveal them to the government and if the government does not take action against them than it is guilty of dereliction of duties.

[Tatsujin]

Poor farmers get merely 18% from the rice budget while the rest go to high and middle income earning farmers.

Indeed a well planned money laundering scam scheme designed to channel monies to those least in need and sympathetic to the Shinwatra P.T.P. self enriching policies.

One wonders just how much the privileged 82% may have lost financially if in fact that 82% have lost anything at all.

At least this boy made some money didn't he.

Controversial former prime minister lives in Dubai as a fugitive from Thailand to avoid corruption charges. His influence over sister Yingluck, Thailand's current prime minister, whom he nominated for the position, is said to be waning. Ousted in 2006 coup, Shinawatra disclosed to FORBES in October that Thai authorities had returned to him close to $1 billion of his $2.3 billion in frozen assets. His [...] more

http://www.forbes.co...sin-shinawatra/

Slightly off-topic, but Thaksin had $1 billion in assets returned to him? Who authorized that and when?

EDIT: As of March 2013, he re-entered the world's richest after he got close to $1 billion back from the $2.3 billion of his assets frozen by the Thai authorities.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/richest-billionaires/thaksin-shinawatra-net-worth/

Edited February 4, 2014 by Tatsujin

[Bluespunk]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

Problem is they tried to reduce the price being paid last year and farmers groups made clear what would happen if they did this and PT did a u turn.

[Bluespunk]

Target the wrong doers and the saboteurs rather than the rice pledging scheme. Who are those unscrupulous people, the auditor general office should reveal them to the government and if the government does not take action against them than it is guilty of dereliction of duties.

Somebody tried doing that and quickly retracted their statements about corruption when someone had a word with them!

[geriatrickid]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

Agreed. The government should cut its losses now. It will require both sides to accept that this has to be wound down quickly and in a manner that contains the ongoing losses. Hopefully an agreement to pay the farmers their outstanding monies will be included. Unfortunately, the government whether it is PTP or XXX will still be on the hook for the payments due the farmers if they are not paid. I don't think the proponents of holding up the current monies due, understand that it just doesn't damage the current government but damages the reliability of future governments when they enter into future payment agreements. Everyone will suffer because a premium will be attached to any future deals, even if executed by a seemingly honest government.

[RubbaJohnny]

If the goal is income support/poverty alleviation there are better methods tried and tested elswhere.

1 Debt relief

2 Low cost loans to farmers

3 Means tested benefits

4 Land rights upgrade to chanote ,clear title

5 Physical upgrade via fertilizers,ditching and drainage

6 Water quality,maintainance and supply esp during drought

7 Free school equipment for their children which is one of their needs for money

8 Other rural services which could remove the loan sharks

9 Decent pension if you want folks to stay on the land once the offspring have gone to the fries of BKK

10 Remove the middlemen,of course this removes the skim opportunity to rob the poor.

[Suriya4]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

Problem is they tried to reduce the price being paid last year and farmers groups made clear what would happen if they did this and PT did a u turn.

The next govt, who ever it may be should just stop this stupid scheme.

Let the farmers earn what they planted. Market mechanism work best.

[tomyummer]

Don't drop it until there's more research into the trails and accountability for the darn corruption. If it gets dropped, I'm afraid all inquiries will be dropped or swept under the carpet if not already done so.

[Thait Spot]

The heat would appear to be very much on........

and I don't see the farmers leaping to defend the scheme. On the contrary they will see the few satang that have filtered down to them and the billions lining other undeserving pockets

[steveromagnino]

The main issue is that the govt refuses to accept that there is anything wrong with the scheme - to admit that would then lead to revealing who has their hands in the till.

As I posted elsewhere:

The farmers have paid all their costs (seed, harvesting, fertiliser etc etc). They are the ones who are stuck here because they haven't been paid.

The farmers who did not sell it to the govt have been forced to sell it to the highest bidders, who are offering about 5,500b from memory; something like 30% lower than the market price simply because the farmers have basically no choice, so in fact the farmers are either stuck owed money by the govt who may never pay them, or if they still have some rice on hand, stuck selling at a loss on the open market which has been massively damaged by the price distortions of the pledging scheme so are being screwed.

Also, there are some questions as to whether the rice actually can even be returned (some sources inside the scheme believe that the same single sack of rice has been used more than once for pledging - it was transferred to someone else who then also pledged the same physical rice - which means that even were they to try to return the rice, there might be 2-3 owners of each ton of rice pledged - the real one plus a few fake ones created by sources close to the government - and it will be nearly impossible to determine who actually owns the rice without also revealing the corruption in the scheme).

This is why the price floor system of the Dems was so much healthier and sustainable. For PT to stop this scheme would require they implement the Dems scheme instead - political suicide.

Rice pledging was never a crop subsidy with a budget for subsidies as occurs elsewhere in the world, it is a monopsony with the govt buying all the rice at an inflated price with an aim to sell it at an inflated price which is obviously never going to happen.

So what happens is the govt have alledgedly done fake deals and lied about it, or have done deals but the aren't as they appear (where they sell 10,000 tons on paper but 'accidentally' deliver 25,000 tons thus ensuring the rice traders will pay the higher price per ton and it all looks ok on paper). The problem is that the budget constraint for funding the scheme is capped at a level too low to run the scheme longterm as it's like a Ponzi scheme as the few deals done are in reality for more rice than what the contract says, so the rice stockpile is slowly less and less than what it should be on paper. In addition, you have pledging of the rice more than once that actually doesn't exist at all. You have far rice pledged from Burma/Laos/Cambodia, and crop yields higher than planned. So any physical investigation will reveal the true losses - which is why the govt has been so strongly against anyone actually investigating the scheme.

So now it's run out of money, the govt could either be honest and admit that there are no real deals, or reveal the actual corruption in the scheme, to increase the budget to fund it - until now the government has mostly tried to lie its way out (that there are deals, that the scheme is solvent) but they cannot fake the actual money needed to pay out. So hence they have blamed it all on the protests. Even now we see more lies about deals about to happen.

It is also their fault that they had all the time in the world to secure financing for high speed rail and trying to push the amnesty, but did not consider it important to secure budget or tell the truth on the rice pledging scheme - civil servants have no power to allocate money for this, and having told anyone that speaks out against the scheme that they are idiots, can u expect any civil servant to lay their careers on the line for this when the architects of the scheme choose to do nothing and blame the civil service?

[Bluespunk]

"Auditor-general tells caretaker PM to scrap rice pledging scheme"

You are wasting your breath Khun Prapee.

She never listened before and she has no intention of listening now.

Or should I say.....her brother.....never listened before or now.

I am not so sure. This actually provides a good avenue of escape for the YL govt to try and extricate themselves from this poorly thought out and executed scheme.

I hope that they will see the light of day, and fess up to their mistake. This would be the first step towards reform and a more open and honest govt. If not, they deserve to be replaced, at the ballot box of course.

Problem is they tried to reduce the price being paid last year and farmers groups made clear what would happen if they did this and PT did a u turn.

The next govt, who ever it may be should just stop this stupid scheme.

Let the farmers earn what they planted. Market mechanism work best.

post 23 offers some realistic, viable options in way of supporting farmers who may need it.

[zydeco]

Scrap the existing system. Pay the poor farmers full existing subsidy. Pay the middle income farmers 50 percent of the subsidy, and pay nothing to the high income farmers. Meanwhile, tax the millers, PTP members, and farangs on this board who have supported PTP's shoddy governance. That ought to help put things back into balance.

[Jasun]

Unlike the micro loans or electricity rebate scheme, the people who benefit most from the subsidies are the guys with 10,000 rai plots. It would have been simpler to distribute diesel coupons, bags of seed or just give out cash.