Thai Military continues to inspect rice in silos and warehouses nationwide

[webfact]

Military continues to inspect rice in silos and warehouses nationwide



PHITSANULOK, 17 June 2014, (NNT) - Region 2 Military dispatch troops have placed locks on the doors of warehouses in the rice support program in various provinces, preventing any attempt to move the rice stock before it is inspected. Secure locks have been placed on warehouses and silos in Muang District of Phitsanulok Province, awaiting the military’s inspection of the pledged rice. Officials will soon verify whether or not the area has the 100,000 bags of the rice crop as recorded.

Aside from installing the locks, the military is also dispatching troops to patrol the silos and warehouses every two hours until the inspection is completed.

Similarly in Phijit, the provincial military and the rice inspection committee witnessed the installation of security mechanism on 12 warehouses in the rice growing support program in Muang Province. The area holds 9.8 million bags of rice, accumulated since the 2011 season.

Meanwhile in Buriram, officials have asserted they are being meticulous with the security measures at the province’s seven silos that contain about 224,700 bags of rice, saying frequent examination of CCTV video is being conducted.

According to the Region 2 military, the Northeastern Region has over 315 warehouses that were part of the rice pledging scheme. The officials have created inspection teams each consisting of 800 officers from the military, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Department of Internal Trade. Each team is to be responsible for the inspection of about 100 of warehouses.

-- NNT 2014-06-17

[djjamie]

troops have placed locks on the doors of warehouses in the rice support program in various provinces

They have also placed putty over the locks and imprinted it with the military stamp as per below.

They must be paranoid? One could surmise they don't trust the ex PTP Commerce Ministry and the Public Warehouse Association when they stated twice there is absolutely no rice missing from stock piles..

They are right to not trust them.

[siampolee]

one is led to expect some extreme bowel movements from certain sections of the political and officialdom communities along with no doubt a number of rice millers concerning this action.

It is to be hoped that the ongoing campaign to clean up some of the corrupt practices will carry on and indeed gather further momentum and strength.

A cleaner administration system would indeed be welcome to all, however it's going to take a long time and concentrated actions to eradicate corruption totally, ''still every little helps as the monkey said when he peed in the river.''

[Fat Haggis]

I think you'll find that the putty and the key imprint are more for their identification purposes than anything else no need to be Paranoid, it's not like you can just walk in there and add/remove hundreds of tonnes without the logistics

[timewilltell]

One has to ask if those who have taken charge can get this going in just a few weeks, then what does that speak in volumes about the previous administration?

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[EyesWideOpen]

Clearly the military knows this program is riddled with corruption and lies. Now just a

matter for them to prove it. Guess with these padlocks, there will be no more late night

shifting of the rice between warehouses... I suspect there may be more than one person

packing their bags and getting ready to leave Thailand. In the past, if you were caught for

corruption, it was a long drawn out process with lots of delays and continuances, ending

up with a tap on the wrist. With Prayuth the Terminator in charge, I think it will be

straight to jail for the culprits, with average Thai people along the side of road cheering....

[siampolee]

timewilltell post # 5

One has to ask if those who have taken charge can get this going in just a few weeks, then what does that speak in volumes about the previous administration?

Because those officials tasked with monitoring the rice pledging scam scheme were unable to move quickly due to the extreme weight load of their wallets.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnzfTk4b2jCb8H1NvA7NRxzIwph_-bfo_zkd2nAQwHcBdv88dZWQ

[Fat Haggis]

You do realise that moving vast amounts of rice involves a vast amount of people? From the Yardmen all the way down to the lorry drivers,You think that the Military can't simply arrest and "question" the warehouse owners, and foremen and truck drivers and not get them to "spill the beans" ?

[Thai at Heart]

If you can take time to send someone there to lock it, u can send someone there to count sacks.

How they are going to reconcile 3 years of this system god knows.

[chainarong]

It's all happening and looking positive , one doubts that much will be gained , they would have identified the suspect area's long ago with disgruntled democrat voters blowing the whistle, one guy is now doing 20years , a few more to follow , the trace should be on the government money trail , not the bags.

[UbonRatch]

I'm not quite sure how military soldiers can inspect rice, and come up with a status.

If it's green, or got rat shiite on it.... does that pass or not?

There needs to be a standard for military inspection, based upon worldwide standards of pass or fail.

[Fat Haggis]

I don't think they're inspecting quality, more the quantity

[Robby nz]

It's all happening and looking positive , one doubts that much will be gained , they would have identified the suspect area's long ago with disgruntled democrat voters blowing the whistle, one guy is now doing 20years , a few more to follow , the trace should be on the government money trail , not the bags.

How about both ?

[Robby nz]

I'm not quite sure how military soldiers can inspect rice, and come up with a status.

If it's green, or got rat shiite on it.... does that pass or not?

There needs to be a standard for military inspection, based upon worldwide standards of pass or fail.

They have previously given a rundown of who the inspection teams will consist of, not just the military : http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/734300-1800-rice-warehouses-to-be-checked/

The inspection team will consist of representatives from the PM's Office, the Army, police, Interior, Commerce and Agricul-ture ministries, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

[BSJ]

Once it's been determined that the numbers don't add up and that new number is beyond doubt, the finger of guilt will be pointed at those already under suspicion and any accomplices.

As always there will be those that will be wanting to turn 'states evidence' or whatever it's called here, to save their own butts.

[Fat Haggis]

Once it's been determined that the numbers don't add up and that new number is beyond doubt, the finger of guilt will be pointed at those already under suspicion and any accomplices.

As always there will be those that will be wanting to turn 'states evidence' or whatever it's called here, to save their own butts.

Why wouldn't they have done this already?

[ChrisY1]

It's a waste of time....Nuttawat already did an inspection of all the warehouses, some time ago, only took him 3 days or so, and found nothing wrong...no rice missing and no evidence of corruption .............??

[djjamie]

I think you'll find that the putty and the key imprint are more for their identification purposes than anything else no need to be Paranoid, it's not like you can just walk in there and add/remove hundreds of tonnes without the logistics

The thai statement translates to;

"NPCO chains entrance to rice silo, seals in putty and stamps it to prevent tampering before inspection"

​Remember rice also spontaneously combusts in Thailand when it feels threatened that it might be exposed.

Also don't forget for every HOUR yingluck was PM she lost 20.8 million baht & 12,500 kgs of rice... thats PER HOUR!

​General Preyuth would see the PTP more as magicians that can make things disappear from under peoples noses. He is not taking that risk again.

[tomross46]

troops have placed locks on the doors of warehouses in the rice support program in various provinces

They have also placed putty over the locks and imprinted it with the military stamp as per below.

They must be paranoid? One could surmise they don't trust the ex PTP Commerce Ministry and the Public Warehouse Association when they stated twice there is absolutely no rice missing from stock piles..

They are right to not trust them.

How can you expect the politicians to make any money if you do not let then take the rice. It is not corruption, it is a way of life.

[ozvenison]

1 grain, 2 grain, 3 grain.. how many is that now?

ok, 7 grain, 8 grain.. time for lunch..

how many is that? .. 15 grain, 16 grain.. how many is that

[Robby nz]

It's a waste of time....Nuttawat already did an inspection of all the warehouses, some time ago, only took him 3 days or so, and found nothing wrong...no rice missing and no evidence of corruption .............??

But he has Nuttawat transport to get him around so he should be able to do it quickly.

[dcutman]

If you can take time to send someone there to lock it, u can send someone there to count sacks.

How they are going to reconcile 3 years of this system god knows.

Excellent question.

Does anybody know how much there is supposed to be in stock?

Claims of volume (tonnage) of rice stock by PTP in the last 6 months has ranged from "ABOUT 8 to 10 million tons" to "ABOUT 18 to 20 million tons"

Two to 12 million tons of unreconciled rice stock is an extraordinary amount.

[thumper101]

I think they ought to be looking at Nattawut transport who were actually moving lots of rice around the country.

I drive a hell of a lot in Thailand, and I have seen it with my own eyes.

Find out why back in Jan/Feb the company way moving rice from the south to the north?... go through all their logistics records and bank statements and trace back who was making all the calls.

Look at every invoice, at gas and diesel purchases, make sure they match up...

Look at the tax they claim back for fuel purchases and see if that tallies with the amount of work they claim to have done.

Look at how much were paid to them from government coffers.

Ask those who booked the logistics to justify the trips and the reason for them.

It isn't hard. Basic accounting and checking.

But most of all, check how much money has gone through their accounts, and if unusually high.... freeze everything.

[thumper101]

It's not as big a job as people think.

Even 1 million tonnes in 50KG sacks and say 50 sacks on a palette.

If a counting team was 800 strong, that is only 500 palettes to count per man.

If these are stacked three palletes high and stacked in rows of say 20 deep... It can literally take one man with a calculator a few hours to count out a massive warehouse. I have done many stocktakes in my time and i know it can be done quickly with just a single product on site.

They will have the numbers in within weeks.... The bigger job is reconciling everything down, putting a big red circle around all the bits that don't make sense... then rounding up all the people to explain what each discrepency means.

Of course you may fine when they try to ask questions, for various reasons... people are not availabe as they are out of the country 'on business'.

However.... It is not all about counting rice...

The biggest question the military should be asking... is 'please justify the expences and how it adds up to 70% - 80% of the entire rice scam budget'.

What was the last budget?... 250 Bn baht and only managed to pay farmers 50 Bn before the money was gone?????

That is the elephant in the room my friends, and I can't believe the military are not going down this route to get the real big fish at government level.

Edited June 17, 2014 by thumper101

[jcisco]

Clearly the military knows this program is riddled with corruption and lies. Now just a

matter for them to prove it. Guess with these padlocks, there will be no more late night

shifting of the rice between warehouses... I suspect there may be more than one person

packing their bags and getting ready to leave Thailand. In the past, if you were caught for

corruption, it was a long drawn out process with lots of delays and continuances, ending

up with a tap on the wrist. With Prayuth the Terminator in charge, I think it will be

straight to jail for the culprits, with average Thai people along the side of road cheering....

I would of hoped that the bags used where uniquely tagged anyways to avoid exactly that sort of fraud. Or bound with a unique thread and stamped and the like, damn lets hope they did have some sort of anti fraud measures in place.

I imagine that the warehouses that have been billing the government per bag per month are going to be a bit worried. Especially if they expect some has stolen the stock or if they themselves have been screwing the people of Thailand a bit more.

Wondering if the bags in storage are 50KG bags, anyone know?

[Fat Haggis]

The counting of bags is perhaps only part of it, they need to weigh them as well, they need to check the contents to make sure that what's in these bags is what's supposed to be in them.

They need to be 110% thorough in this, it's all to easy to stack real rice on top of "anything" to give the appearance that what you see is 2-300 Bags of rice, when the centre of that stack could be just about anything that can be placed within a sack, every single bag inside these warehouses needs to be weighed, contents checked, and labelled physically and electronically (bar codes). Then sealed again till the time to sell them comes around.

It's not any different than having customs and excise weights and measure team turn up in your bar, and check on your stock, there have been numerous cases where cheap nasty vodka has been put into the more well known brands, labels swapped over, everything that has come and gone in these warehouses "should" have Invoices, transportation invoices, shipping invoices, dispatch and received invoices.

[HUAHIN62]

I don't think they're inspecting quality, more the quantity

So they are counting bags and not whats in the bags, waste of money. Whats needed is inspections by people with enough knowledge to not only count the bags but also determine which bags must written off, which must be sold asap, which bags can wait longer to be sold etc. There can be rocks inside the bags and it will be counted as rice.

[pmugghc]

You do realise that moving vast amounts of rice involves a vast amount of people? From the Yardmen all the way down to the lorry drivers,You think that the Military can't simply arrest and "question" the warehouse owners, and foremen and truck drivers and not get them to "spill the beans" ?

What if some of the rice never existed in the first place? The truck drivers and foremen wouldn't know about that.

[VocalNeal]

How can the man in Dubai negotiate large scale rice sales if he is no longer in charge of the rice. Oops forgot that is the whole point of the exercise!

Or maybe all the rice driving around means he has some squirreled away?

Edited June 17, 2014 by VocalNeal

[belg]

they dont have enough troups turning their fingers to put a guard before every warehouse 24/7 ?