Anti-corruption commission questions officials in rice corruption case

BANGKOK, 3 June 2014 (NNT) - Director-General of the Internal Trade Department Somchart Soithong on Tuesday traveled to the office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to testify in the rice subsidy corruption case following the findings that rice worth many billions of baht has disappeared from the government’s warehouses.

The NACC is looking into irregularities in the ousted government’s rice subsidy scheme and will inspect assets and liabilities of the political-title holders involved in the program.

Mr Somchart is one of the four witnesses including Permanent Secretary for Justice Rangsan Sriworasart, Inspector of the Ministry of Finance Kulit Sombatsiri and the manager of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. The NACC will question the four of them until 6 June.

Around 2.8 million tons of rice in the rice support program were found missing and a large quantity of rice was reportedly spoiled. Total damages were estimated at over 500 million baht.


-- NNT 2014-06-03

Should be all over quick as Yingluck said she did nothing wrong.

Well, that was the government they wanted.

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

Officials are often transferred so they can not harass those who might give evidence against them.

2.8 million tons missing!!!

Bet Yingluck is full of love for the Dubai criminal right now.

It is going to be fun to see the people who profited at the expense of the

farmers, now get roasted...... Also I am curious who made the most money

from this scam, the big millers or the big farm owners. Because whoever has

the money, it sure as hell is not the little farmers who are committing suicides

over money owed to the money lenders...

A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

Nothing is missing, just mislaid, moved around to air and/or polish things a bit.

Of course, some still have the mistaken believe that Ms. Yingluck was maybe a bit naïve in trusting her handpicked cabinet and some others. Personally I tend to think more in terms of criminal negligence.

A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

Officials are often transferred so they can not harass those who might give evidence against them.

Anyone who has lived in Thailand a decade or more, including Thai people, would automatically assume any Thai administration to be corrupt. So, Valentine, what are your reasons to assume them to be not corrupt? Lack of "evidence" in not a measure of not corrupt as the people involved are not stupid and have had years of practice covering up.

Since you are skeptical of the charges, these charges have been around since the programs inception, how would you go about proving the officials to be guilty or innocent?

A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

stop trying to be stupid and claiming Taksin his clan and rest simply have not been bleeding Thailand dry for a decade. What else would bribed officials say for goodness sake. People like you would excuse most vile regime and claim Hitler was a saint, Pol pot cared for his people and Idi Amin as well as Taksin were simply misunderstood. Totally pathetic go and hide you'd head in sand. As I say pathetic

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

They are basically independent which immediately placed them as another of Thaksin's enemies seeing he couldn't buy or threaten them. Checks and balances are such wonderful tools to keep criminals, sorry Thai politicians to points of law and order.

They report to the Senate, which currently does'nt matter diddly squat, as the other group they report to (which is the real karma bitch for Yingluck and her brothers lackeys) is the criminal court.

A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

I think a big difference betwen railroading and finding out the truth.....in any case, a loss of over 500billion is worth investigating....without interference from possible involved people.

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

Probably the Prime Minister. There's a new one in case you hadn't been keeping up with the latest news. He's only been in the position a couple of weeks but doing a really good job.

So would I be right then is presuming that the NACC were able to complete an audit of all the warehouses, within the last 10 days, and have indeed found a discrepancy of close to 300 Million tonnes, but had been unable to do this over the past 2 years?

The reason I'm asking is did they not already state that they didn't have the resources or the finances to check over 2-300 warehouses, where the ice was alleged to have gone missing?

And yet, now that the Military are now in power, they were able to indeed are able to present a clear case of missing rice, in the quantities that was allegedly "missing" in the space of 10 days?

They're in the wrong line of work if that's the case, they should be coppers, if this is indeed the case and there's 300M Tonnes missing, then it's quite right that those responsible for it's theft, are punished accordingly.

A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

I think a big difference betwen railroading and finding out the truth.....in any case, a loss of over 500billion is worth investigating....without interference from possible involved people.

A few extra zeros crept in there. "ONLY" 500 million was the OP. thats 1/2 a billion. Still more than my pension.and investments............. And more that a few rice-farmers worth of scamming.

So would I be right then is presuming that the NACC were able to complete an audit of all the warehouses, within the last 10 days, and have indeed found a discrepancy of close to 300 Million tonnes, but had been unable to do this over the past 2 years?

The reason I'm asking is did they not already state that they didn't have the resources or the finances to check over 2-300 warehouses, where the ice was alleged to have gone missing?

And yet, now that the Military are now in power, they were able to indeed are able to present a clear case of missing rice, in the quantities that was allegedly "missing" in the space of 10 days?

They're in the wrong line of work if that's the case, they should be coppers, if this is indeed the case and there's 300M Tonnes missing, then it's quite right that those responsible for it's theft, are punished accordingly.

Extra zero everywhere. Surely the OP says 2.8 million tons?.

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

No Thai politicians, I would hope.

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

Where we go…Time to denounce the NACC because it does not suit the PTP agenda!!

Yep, that one is on my list as well.

The Thai beauty patent judges, the World bank, Moody's, UNHCR, Human Rights Watch, NACC, the Environmentalists, the corn farmer, rubber farmers, rice farmers, medical association, rural teachers, academics, Supa, global economists, IMF, private banks, GSB, the EC, AoT, the courts, military, bangkok middle class, business owner, state enterprise staff, Buddhist monks, civil servants, labor unions, Green Politics group, Thai Constitution Protection Association, The Thai press, NIDA poll, Bangkok Poll.

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

Why do they need oversight?

They will present evidence to courts - who will eventually make a decision based on that evidence.

This is the same in many countries is it not?

I wonder if around 2.8 million tons of rice 'fell of the back of a truck' in Dubai recently.

Didnt the PTP government and YL make a statement about a week before they were ousted that they were not missing any rice and it was just a clerical error because the missing rice was in government stock. Now the NACC states that their really was 2.8 mill tons missing. Shouldnt the headlines be " another lie by YL and the PTP unfolded in the rice scheme" ?

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..and who has oversight of the NACC?

Because of your typical style question, my answer would be..........Dick Barton special agent. How many assessors do you want ??? an assessor to assess the assessor ???

So would I be right then is presuming that the NACC were able to complete an audit of all the warehouses, within the last 10 days, and have indeed found a discrepancy of close to 300 Million tonnes, but had been unable to do this over the past 2 years?

The reason I'm asking is did they not already state that they didn't have the resources or the finances to check over 2-300 warehouses, where the ice was alleged to have gone missing?

And yet, now that the Military are now in power, they were able to indeed are able to present a clear case of missing rice, in the quantities that was allegedly "missing" in the space of 10 days?

They're in the wrong line of work if that's the case, they should be coppers, if this is indeed the case and there's 300M Tonnes missing, then it's quite right that those responsible for it's theft, are punished accordingly.

That the rice has been missing has been known for a long time. With the boss running things no one had the courage to stand up. Remember the last woman in the finance department who insisted that the program was generating a loss much larger than being publicly stated. Where did her career go. It went down a long and lonely road. That alone tells you all you need to know.

..and who has oversight of the NACC?

The courts - if it goes that far

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So would I be right then is presuming that the NACC were able to complete an audit of all the warehouses, within the last 10 days, and have indeed found a discrepancy of close to 300 Million tonnes, but had been unable to do this over the past 2 years?

The reason I'm asking is did they not already state that they didn't have the resources or the finances to check over 2-300 warehouses, where the ice was alleged to have gone missing?

And yet, now that the Military are now in power, they were able to indeed are able to present a clear case of missing rice, in the quantities that was allegedly "missing" in the space of 10 days?

They're in the wrong line of work if that's the case, they should be coppers, if this is indeed the case and there's 300M Tonnes missing, then it's quite right that those responsible for it's theft, are punished accordingly.

Extra zero everywhere. Surely the OP says 2.8 million tons?.

Oops my bad!! sorry about that

I know this may sound very wrong, apart from the revenue lost/stolen it's 3 million tonnes less to have to try and shift onto the market, when the market is saturated and the price is very low, the supply is greater than the demand at the moment, and someone is going to have to make a brutal decision as to how they're going to get rid/sell the current stock pile, they're going to have to accept massive loses, and perhaps write off a portion of it.

Is the subsidy scheme now dead, or is there farmers still committed to selling their rice to the Junta? Isn't it madness to keep accepting stock, when they can't shift what they currently have? Would it not be a better idea to subsidise the farmers to STOP production for 12-18 months, to allow the Junta to sell off/destroy their current stock? The Millers are maybe now wringing their hands if the scheme is dead, as it means more business for them, for these guys, this is the silver lining in their cloud, and they know they can basically hold the farmers to ransom and pay them what they want, as in take it or leave it ?

I hope that those responsible for the thefts are rightly punished,

So would I be right then is presuming that the NACC were able to complete an audit of all the warehouses, within the last 10 days, and have indeed found a discrepancy of close to 300 Million tonnes, but had been unable to do this over the past 2 years?

The reason I'm asking is did they not already state that they didn't have the resources or the finances to check over 2-300 warehouses, where the ice was alleged to have gone missing?

And yet, now that the Military are now in power, they were able to indeed are able to present a clear case of missing rice, in the quantities that was allegedly "missing" in the space of 10 days?

They're in the wrong line of work if that's the case, they should be coppers, if this is indeed the case and there's 300M Tonnes missing, then it's quite right that those responsible for it's theft, are punished accordingly.

300 million tonnes of ice?

Or 2.8 million tonnes of rice?

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..and who has oversight of the NACC?

They are basically independent which immediately placed them as another of Thaksin's enemies seeing he couldn't buy or threaten them. Checks and balances are such wonderful tools to keep criminals, sorry Thai politicians to points of law and order.

They report to the Senate, which currently does'nt matter diddly squat, as the other group they report to (which is the real karma bitch for Yingluck and her brothers lackeys) is the criminal court.

The NACC does not report to the Senate which no longer exists. It is an independent agency under the 2007 Constitution which no longer exists.

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A director of the Public Warehouse Office said it was incorrect that rice was missing, so the powers to be suspended him. Many others have been transferred in order to railroad the case through unopposed.

I think a big difference betwen railroading and finding out the truth.....in any case, a loss of over 500billion is worth investigating....without interference from possible involved people.

A few extra zeros crept in there. "ONLY" 500 million was the OP. thats 1/2 a billion. Still more than my pension.and investments............. And more that a few rice-farmers worth of scamming.

He's correct. 500 billion baht loss for the rice scheme

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So would I be right then is presuming that the NACC were able to complete an audit of all the warehouses, within the last 10 days, and have indeed found a discrepancy of close to 300 Million tonnes, but had been unable to do this over the past 2 years?

The reason I'm asking is did they not already state that they didn't have the resources or the finances to check over 2-300 warehouses, where the ice was alleged to have gone missing?

And yet, now that the Military are now in power, they were able to indeed are able to present a clear case of missing rice, in the quantities that was allegedly "missing" in the space of 10 days?

They're in the wrong line of work if that's the case, they should be coppers, if this is indeed the case and there's 300M Tonnes missing, then it's quite right that those responsible for it's theft, are punished accordingly.

300 million tonnes of ice?

Or 2.8 million tonnes of rice?

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LOL yeah a typo on my part, the ice must've melted!!

Missing, or never actually delivered? And what happened to the "missing rice was off being milled" story?

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