Troops find 91,000 sacks of rice missing from a Pathum Thani warehouse

[Morch]

The first people that need to be questioned are those warehouse managers, and determine what they did with the rice, and where it went, when it went and under whose authority did they do a David Copperfield and made it vanish.. take care of the small fish first, and if there's enough evidence to take it higher to the Regional Managers, then the same thing with them, same questions, and keep going upwards till the same name(s) keep cropping up.

I doubt very much that Yingluck herself would have ordered the theft, it would be wishful thinking on many peoples parts, but she didn't bother attending any meetings, so she was hardly going to order the warehouses to sell the stuff behind closed doors.

Once there is sufficient evidence to pursue a criminal case, there's no point in leaping up and down demanding assets are seized, lets wait till the "innocent until proven guilty" part is done and dusted... then, and only then, start seizing assets of those found guilty of the crime.

The Army Investigators need to expedite the remaining searches, as this instance it came from a tip off.

Agree with most of your post, except for a minor tiny thing:

I doubt very much that Yingluck herself would have ordered the theft, it would be wishful thinking on many peoples parts, but she didn't bother attending any meetings, so she was hardly going to order the warehouses to sell the stuff behind closed doors.

I was under the impression she bothered quite a bit not to attend any meetings...

(or not even being around on some occasions)

[Fat Haggis]

The way it's meant to be is that she didn't bother, as in show any interest in attending the meetings..

[Morch]

The way it's meant to be is that she didn't bother, as in show any interest in attending the meetings..

I still go with plausible dependability, but wouldn't make a fuss if the get her over simple negligence.

[trogers]

"It was discovered that there was no rice behind the (several metres high) stacks of visible rice".

This means the rice sacks are being stacked to deceive anyone doing just plain visible inspection. There is clear intention to deceive. It cannot be just an honest mistake...

Edited June 28, 2014 by trogers

[Trouble]

It seems to me that the corruption in the rice pledging scheme that everyone seems to think the politicians are benefiting from is actually occurring on a much lower level. Theft, improper accounting, mixing qualities of rice seems more likely to have occurred by the people actually handling the rice itself or contractors, not the politicians.

[Morch]

"It was discovered that there was no rice behind the (several metres high) stacks of visible rice".

This means the rice sacks are being stacked to deceive anyone doing just plain visible inspection. There is clear intention to deceive. It cannot be just an honest mistake...

The mistake was in not hiding it good enough.

[wealth]

LOL!!! No rice behind the first row.

the same as with the forests

[onlycw]

Let's see. How many staff had participated in this scam? From the guards to the operator of the weigh scale? What about the management? Will all get punished, or is this business as usual?

One would expect this kind of fraud in other warehouses, too.

Cui bono - who benefits?

Find that and look for some money trail. Instant riches for some people, huh?

This is a unique opportunity to uphold the law and seize assets...

[rubl]

It seems to me that the corruption in the rice pledging scheme that everyone seems to think the politicians are benefiting from is actually occurring on a much lower level. Theft, improper accounting, mixing qualities of rice seems more likely to have occurred by the people actually handling the rice itself or contractors, not the politicians.

The fault may still lay with the politicians who came up with a scheme that was just open to misuse and who failed to include 'supervision' as part of the policy.

BTW 'mixing qualities of rice' is indeed something politicians are less likely to do, that's hard work which can even get ones hands dirty

[soalbundy]

So can you confirm that you do pay tax in Thailand? I do, and I have for 20 plus years, and while I don't resent that at all - it should certainly be more - I do resent it being stolen by the Shin clan and other dishonest Thai politicians. So... do you pay tax, 'Farang'? Or are you all mouth and trousers?

Everyone pays tax,if you buy goods at a store,if you buy petrol,if you buy beer or wine if you buy clothes, so get off of your high horse. It's not yours once the government takes it,they could use it for toilet paper and there is nothing you can do about it,it gets squandered like all tax money,it gets stolen,that's the way it is and your life won't change one bit if it was any different. Useless aircraft carrier without any planes anyone ?

So, another long term "tourist" or "student". Some of us pay Income Tax as well as VAT, wise guy.

์No,i am retired and i have lived here legally for nine years. It would do your blood pressure some good if you stopped being so aggressive.The fact that you pay tax over and above VAT doesn't make you the saviour of Thailand,we all, or most of us, do our bit in one way or another. Fact is tax money doesn't belong to you,you have a tax debt when you start working,it isn't your money,what the government does with it has nothing to do with you,especially as a foreigner. You work and pay tax but you are, like all other foreigners here not an integral part of Thai society,you are tolerated, no more than that.Getting extremely annoyed about waste or corruption here is wasted effort as far as you're or anyone else here is concerned.

[arminbkk]

How heavy is a sack in this case?

I may be wrong but I think one sack for storage is 50kg. The sale bags are usually 25kgs or less.

The rice of MOF is stored in hemp sacks that weigh 100.7 kg each.

That's 100 kg rice and 0.7 kg for the hemp sack.

[Artisi]

Wow, 91,000 sacks missing! To move that out, if it ever was moved in, would take over 300 10-wheel trucks. I think they would do well to interrogate the gate-man and yard workers.....squeeze em a little if they must.....to get information before starting on the management....who probably need to be detained indefinitely.

If it was ever moved in is the operative phrase. It's a fair bet dockets were issued for rice never received with payment to be sort later. So in hind-sight it might well be the advantage of Thailand that payments were delayed - unless of course this fell under the already paid to some of the red supporters.

[Thai at Heart]

At 80kg that is 7,000tonnes.

Literally a drop in the ocean. Keep looking.

That's 7000 tonnes from one warehouse imagine how much is missing after they are done checking the entire inventory.

Well this must have been one very tiddly warehouse, because they supposedly have between 10mn and 20mn tonnes out there.

If the average of this warehouse keeps it up, over 2 thirds is gone. Just watch. There will be some tiny explanation why this is missing.

I tell you now, there is virtually NO WAY to reconcile this after the fact. 7,000 tonnes is a rounding error to the third decimal in the processing yield.

[Robbie Dye]

They found it or found it lost or lost it? Seriously confusing headline until u read the feature!

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[siampolee]

No doubt about it's the weevils who've walked away with the rice you know.

Edited June 29, 2014 by siampolee

[attento]

How heavy is a sack in this case?

How heavy would you like it to be, sir. It can be arranged.

[attento]

Wasn't it reported that some rice was making round-trips over the border ?

Maybe some just accidently fell off the truck before it could make the return trip.

[Robby nz]

Wasn't it reported that some rice was making round-trips over the border ?

Maybe some just accidently fell off the truck before it could make the return trip.

It was also reported that at least some of said trucks belonged to a company with the same name as PT politician.

A clue as to who "I will take full responsibility".

[Skywalker69]

How heavy is a sack in this case?

I think that they are 50kg sacks. I don't know for sure.

70-100 kg

[scorecard]

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So can you confirm that you do pay tax in Thailand? I do, and I have for 20 plus years, and while I don't resent that at all - it should certainly be more - I do resent it being stolen by the Shin clan and other dishonest Thai politicians. So... do you pay tax, 'Farang'? Or are you all mouth and trousers?

Everyone pays tax,if you buy goods at a store,if you buy petrol,if you buy beer or wine if you buy clothes, so get off of your high horse. It's not yours once the government takes it,they could use it for toilet paper and there is nothing you can do about it,it gets squandered like all tax money,it gets stolen,that's the way it is and your life won't change one bit if it was any different. Useless aircraft carrier without any planes anyone ?

So, another long term "tourist" or "student". Some of us pay Income Tax as well as VAT, wise guy.

์No,i am retired and i have lived here legally for nine years. It would do your blood pressure some good if you stopped being so aggressive.The fact that you pay tax over and above VAT doesn't make you the saviour of Thailand,we all, or most of us, do our bit in one way or another. Fact is tax money doesn't belong to you,you have a tax debt when you start working,it isn't your money,what the government does with it has nothing to do with you,especially as a foreigner. You work and pay tax but you are, like all other foreigners here not an integral part of Thai society,you are tolerated, no more than that.Getting extremely annoyed about waste or corruption here is wasted effort as far as you're or anyone else here is concerned.

Just your opinion, many would disagree.

[soalbundy]

Disagree with what ?

That you have no say in how your tax money is used ?

That you are a foreigner and are regarded as such whether you pay tax or not ?

That even if you,as i do, have children here you have no stake here,you are not part of Thai society,you don't even have right of abode ?

That as far as Thailand is concerned your opinions count for nothing ?

Where am i mistaken,how is my thinking wrong ?

[maximun9]

What a thai government , why did they let it happen. It shouldn't happen again because It is the money of Famer.

[AleG]

What a thai government , why did they let it happen. It shouldn't happen again because It is the money of Famer.

An article on the Bangkok Post states that there were tipoffs regarding this warehouse back in July and November last year, obviously the PTP government didn't take any actions then.

[Skywalker69]

Another paper reports most of the 39,000 sacks remaining in the wearhouse are infested with weevils. I wonder if any action will be taken to recover its value.

Coming to a taxfree shop in an airport near you, soon.

[soalbundy]

"It was discovered that there was no rice behind the (several metres high) stacks of visible rice".

This means the rice sacks are being stacked to deceive anyone doing just plain visible inspection. There is clear intention to deceive. It cannot be just an honest mistake...

The rice probably wasn't there in the first place, just documented,nice little earner as Arthur Daley would have said.

[Thai at Heart]

On the front page of the other paper, they are showing the army guys climbing all over stacks of rice metres high and square, trying to work out how many is in each stack.

Short of looking at what is written on the paper stock report, there is no way they can work out what is in the warehouse accurately.

[Artisi]

On the front page of the other paper, they are showing the army guys climbing all over stacks of rice metres high and square, trying to work out how many is in each stack.

Short of looking at what is written on the paper stock report, there is no way they can work out what is in the warehouse accurately.

Not true - a very good estimate could be obtained by physical measurement of the stored rice allowing a volume calculation to be made, this is provided they haven't constructed a scaffold frame internally containing nothing but airspace as has already been done to give the impression of a full warehouse.

[ratcatcher]

On the front page of the other paper, they are showing the army guys climbing all over stacks of rice metres high and square, trying to work out how many is in each stack.

Short of looking at what is written on the paper stock report, there is no way they can work out what is in the warehouse accurately.

Not true - a very good estimate could be obtained by physical measurement of the stored rice allowing a volume calculation to be made, this is provided they haven't constructed a scaffold frame internally containing nothing but airspace as has already been done to give the impression of a full warehouse.

"...constructed a scaffold frame internally containing nothing but airspace..."

They would do that?

[Artisi]

On the front page of the other paper, they are showing the army guys climbing all over stacks of rice metres high and square, trying to work out how many is in each stack.

Short of looking at what is written on the paper stock report, there is no way they can work out what is in the warehouse accurately.

Not true - a very good estimate could be obtained by physical measurement of the stored rice allowing a volume calculation to be made, this is provided they haven't constructed a scaffold frame internally containing nothing but airspace as has already been done to give the impression of a full warehouse.

"...constructed a scaffold frame internally containing nothing but airspace..."

They would do that?

Oh sorry! for a moment there I thought we were discussing the rice scam.

[Thai at Heart]

On the front page of the other paper, they are showing the army guys climbing all over stacks of rice metres high and square, trying to work out how many is in each stack.

Short of looking at what is written on the paper stock report, there is no way they can work out what is in the warehouse accurately.

Not true - a very good estimate could be obtained by physical measurement of the stored rice allowing a volume calculation to be made, this is provided they haven't constructed a scaffold frame internally containing nothing but airspace as has already been done to give the impression of a full warehouse.

Exactly. A very good estimate? Within 5%?

5% of 17,000,000 TONNES is 850,000 MT at how many baht per kilo? Billions. The stacks aren't square, they slope. The stacks are 40 or 50 high, hundreds long and wide. Each stack is enormous volume.