Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to Thai ministers

[webfact]

Anti-graft agency probing rice deals, links to ministers
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The National Anti-Corruption Commission sub-panel is deeply probing alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme's financial transactions to identify possible nominees linked to five former ministers under investigation, NACC deputy secretary-general Warawit Sukboon said yesterday.

Facing graft probes in connection with the rice-pledging scheme are ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra, ex-commerce ministers Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, Boonsong Teriyapirom and Yanyong Phuangrach and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol.

Warawit said the NACC was waiting for more information from banks and relevant state agencies.

He said all the information would be further examined in depth through analyses and syntheses to identify any irregularities in the financial transactions made by the five ex-officials before they assumed and left their post.

He said the graft panel would also interrogate parents, spouses and children and other people linked to the five to see if there were any suspicions they could have acted as nominees.

The panel would meet twice a month to expedite the investigation.

If there were evidence the five had become unusually rich, the NACC would request that the Attorney General indict them and confiscate their assets. Warawit said the NACC could directly file petitions with the Supreme Court to prosecute them if it had suspicions that any of them had committed asset concealment or submitted a false asset declaration.

ML Panadda Diskul, permanent secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, yesterday led a team of officials to inspect Udon Thani rice warehouses with thousands of sacks of pledged rice under the rice-pledging scheme and found that 25 sacks of broken rice were missing.

Panadda said his team did not find any irregularities as the number of missing sacks was much lower than 5 per cent of the total number of sacks and therefore the warehouses would not be probed further.

He said some sacks were infested with weevils and at one stage the inspection team - which included military officers - had to flee a warehouse after being swarmed by weevils.

The team used a forklift to ensure there were no attempts to cover up rice theft.

Previous checks had found that some warehouses managers had tried to deceive officials by neatly piling rice sacks several metres high to form a four-sided wall but it was hollow inside the wall.

Panadda rejected criticism that the inspections were politically motivated, saying they were part of the move to regulate the rice sector to bring Thai rice back to glory.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Anti-graft-agency-probing-rice-deals-links-to-mini-30238416.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-14

[lostsoul49]

Now this is the news many have been waiting for.

I assume they will be squeaking as they walk for the foreseeable future.

Wonder which will crack first and drop as many as they can in the crapper to save their own arse.

I bet its Yingluck under the orders of big bro.

Confiscation of assets is fine, but 30 years prison on top would be proper justice.

[Robby nz]

Where are the red supporters who said they would never go after anyone from the top.

Interesting that there are 3 ex commerce ministers from the two and a half years of revolving chair cabinet reshuffles, all no doubt the best for the job.

[shirtless]

I hope they are found guilty , The rice was owned by the government it is such a conflict of interest to allow ministers to sell rice and make personal gains.

[thesetat2013]

Panadda should be stating they do this to see how much and who was involved in robbing the people and Thailand be they politicians or others. They should also be checking all the workers and family members accounts for suspicious account activity since Thak has shown using workers to hide money before.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[rametindallas]

probing alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme's financial transactions to identify possible nominees linked to five former ministers under investigation

Just as Thaksin hid his wealth with his maid and chauffeur, the authorities want to identify who is accepting money for these five ex-officials. I was just reading an article about the accounting firm Price Waterhouse-Coopers (google 'bringing the fraudsters to book') and their methods of discovering corruption within companies. I think it would be worthwhile to employ them to check all related government computers (for even erased data and emails) to find out who was involved with whom and who got what from/for whom.

http://www.pwc.com/th/en/consulting/forensic/investigations-and-forensic-accounting.jhtml

Edited July 14, 2014 by rametindallas

[Cuchulainn]

..........Facing graft probes in connection with the rice-pledging scheme are ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra, ex-commerce ministers Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, Boonsong Teriyapirom and Yanyong Phuangrach and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol................

Now here's a surprise. Nearly knocked me off me seat. Pheu Thai ministers linked to corruption in the rice scam scheme!!! Never in a million years. ¹⁰

[virtualtraveller]

interestingly Pannada's previous role was governor of Chiang Mai. He was popular and when the in-coming Yingluck govt tried to transfer him, all the local red politicians etc blocked it, saying he was a fair and honest non-partisan guy.

[kannot]

surely not..... im staggered

[kannot]

..........Facing graft probes in connection with the rice-pledging scheme are ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra, ex-commerce ministers Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, Boonsong Teriyapirom and Yanyong Phuangrach and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol................

Now here's a surprise. Nearly knocked me off me seat. Pheu Thai ministers linked to corruption in the rice scam scheme!!! Never in a million years. ¹⁰

unfortunately u have 4.6 billion to choose from in Earths case although humans aint been here that long, thats if u accept these folk as human

[kamahele]

If Yingluck actually did personally enrich herself through this rice pledging scheme, she is even dumber than people say..... And that is pretty dumb. I'll await the end of the investigation.

[kerrysum]

Tell me isn't so, this could never happen in Thailand? Or hey? Maybe it never did? Kerry

[razer]

Now this is the news many have been waiting for.

I assume they will be squeaking as they walk for the foreseeable future.

Wonder which will crack first and drop as many as they can in the crapper to save their own arse.

I bet its Yingluck under the orders of big bro.

Confiscation of assets is fine, but 30 years prison on top would be proper justice.

These will be the people screaming the loudest to restore democratically elected officials.

[fab4]

I see the court of Thai Visa has sat and pronounced the verdict already. For those who actually read the OP you may have noticed these qualifiers;

"probing alleged irregularities",

"to identify possible nominees",

"graft panel would also interrogate parents, spouses and children and other people linked to the five to see if there were any suspicions they could have acted as nominees".

"If there were evidence the five had become unusually rich"

"NACC could directly file petitions with the Supreme Court to prosecute them if it had suspicions that any of them had committed asset concealment or submitted a false asset declaration".

Me, personally?, I'll wait until they come up with something that's not an assumption.

[Thai at Heart]

I would have thought that an investigation of these companies would have been absolutely routine.

All sounds very generic what they are looking for though. Unusually rich. I thought the shins were amply rich already.

[Cake Monster]

To use a renowned and trustworthy company such as Price Waterhouse Cooper as a previous post has mentioned would be an excellent way to achieve true transparency over all the fraud and corruption.

My main issue is are they large enough to deal with all the issues - is anybody ?

[siampolee]

fab4 post # 14

Me, personally?, I'll wait until they come up with something that's not an assumption.

That action will of course apply to your posting style and your logic as well we presume or even hope?

[Prbkk]

probing alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme's financial transactions to identify possible nominees linked to five former ministers under investigation

Just as Thaksin hid his wealth with his maid and chauffeur, the authorities want to identify who is accepting money for these five ex-officials. I was just reading an article about the accounting firm Price Waterhouse-Coopers (google 'bringing the fraudsters to book') and their methods of discovering corruption within companies. I think it would be worthwhile to employ them to check all related government computers (for even erased data and emails) to find out who was involved with whom and who got what from/for whom.

http://www.pwc.com/th/en/consulting/forensic/investigations-and-forensic-accounting.jhtml

PwC....more scandals of their own than you could poke a stick at. Tyco? Yukos. Satyam. A very long list of others.

[Robby nz]

I would have thought that an investigation of these companies would have been absolutely routine.

All sounds very generic what they are looking for though. Unusually rich. I thought the shins were amply rich already.

That's what Thaksin said wasn't it, but he lied.

He couldn't help himself he had to cheat and steal to increase his wealth even though he didn't need to.

If he had been honest he would have been a great man and a great PM and probably still PM to this day with the country being years ahead of where it is now.

Look where his theft and corruption has got him, and dragged his family and cronies along behind.

And worse still look what it has done to the country.

[Alwyn]

I hope they are found guilty , The rice was owned by the government it is such a conflict of interest to allow ministers to sell rice and make personal gains.

Are you hoping they're found guilty whether they are guilty or not?

[Alwyn]

"The team used a forklift to ensure there were no attempts to cover up rice theft.". Ay?

[Robby nz]

probing alleged irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme's financial transactions to identify possible nominees linked to five former ministers under investigation

Just as Thaksin hid his wealth with his maid and chauffeur, the authorities want to identify who is accepting money for these five ex-officials. I was just reading an article about the accounting firm Price Waterhouse-Coopers (google 'bringing the fraudsters to book') and their methods of discovering corruption within companies. I think it would be worthwhile to employ them to check all related government computers (for even erased data and emails) to find out who was involved with whom and who got what from/for whom.

http://www.pwc.com/th/en/consulting/forensic/investigations-and-forensic-accounting.jhtml

PwC....more scandals of their own than you could poke a stick at. Tyco? Yukos. Satyam. A very long list of others.

Warning, warning red troll diversion do not bite.

[Cuchulainn]

Leave him alone. Let him enjoy his day off from his dreary little teaching job.

[Alwyn]

If they've done criminal activities or look as if they've been criminal in this they should rightly be investigated. I wonder if they'll ever get around to investigating the claims that Suthep bought land using donation money from the protests?

[WitawatWatawit]

So where is the auditor general's department while all this is going on?

[Robby nz]

If they've done criminal activities or look as if they've been criminal in this they should rightly be investigated. I wonder if they'll ever get around to investigating the claims that Suthep bought land using donation money from the protests?

"But Suthep"

Another red troll diversion.

[Old Man River]

I see the court of Thai Visa has sat and pronounced the verdict already. For those who actually read the OP you may have noticed these qualifiers;

"probing alleged irregularities",

"to identify possible nominees",

"graft panel would also interrogate parents, spouses and children and other people linked to the five to see if there were any suspicions they could have acted as nominees".

"If there were evidence the five had become unusually rich"

"NACC could directly file petitions with the Supreme Court to prosecute them if it had suspicions that any of them had committed asset concealment or submitted a false asset declaration".

Me, personally?, I'll wait until they come up with something that's not an assumption.

Legally, you are correct. Still, where there's smoke, there's fire.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[Thai at Heart]

I would have thought that an investigation of these companies would have been absolutely routine.

All sounds very generic what they are looking for though. Unusually rich. I thought the shins were amply rich already.

That's what Thaksin said wasn't it, but he lied.

He couldn't help himself he had to cheat and steal to increase his wealth even though he didn't need to.

If he had been honest he would have been a great man and a great PM and probably still PM to this day with the country being years ahead of where it is now.

Look where his theft and corruption has got him, and dragged his family and cronies along behind.

And worse still look what it has done to the country.

I would have thought this type of investigation should have been ongoing ages ago. Why haven't the NACC done anything about it, if they are trying to get Yingluck for dereliction of duty? How on earth are they going to discover nominees of people in rice companies? Every single large rice company has a family member who is part of the agriculture ministry, or an MP, or in local government. It is the very nature of Thai businesses like Rice to have massive connections on ALL political parties, if they can. If they want to find corruption in rice, they need to look in Singapore where they bulk of the profits from these exports sits. You think the money from rice really gets accumulated at the port in Bangkok? Hardly.

Unfortunately, Thaksin is a businessman who only understands winning and losing. Even in that escapade he won massively by being granted a license. He is incapable of walking the middle path of politics. You need to do more reading about the role of 97, and why it inspired him to get into politics in a bigger way. His basic distrust, even hatred of the Dems and their control of businesses in the country, meaning that basically everything is Bangkok centric in the country.

I don't fear for economic future of the country, it will sort itself out, I fear for where does Thailand go next. Other than Thaksin, there are no figureheads for the people to follow. There is NO ONE who resonates with the poor at all. Thailand was running around for 30 years building the Eastern Seaboard and Bangkok and forgot there is a damn big country out there. That was not Thaksin's fault.

[Thai at Heart]

I see the court of Thai Visa has sat and pronounced the verdict already. For those who actually read the OP you may have noticed these qualifiers;

"probing alleged irregularities",

"to identify possible nominees",

"graft panel would also interrogate parents, spouses and children and other people linked to the five to see if there were any suspicions they could have acted as nominees".

"If there were evidence the five had become unusually rich"

"NACC could directly file petitions with the Supreme Court to prosecute them if it had suspicions that any of them had committed asset concealment or submitted a false asset declaration".

Me, personally?, I'll wait until they come up with something that's not an assumption.

Legally, you are correct. Still, where there's smoke, there's fire.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Open up the closet of any large rice exporter and any thai politician and the smoke comes billowing out. You really think they are going to patch together the accounts of this stuff and find a cheque or a cash transfer somewhere saying "Pay. Y. Shinawtra"

I won't hold my breath. The fact they even have to say they are investigating means they haven't got a clue.

[robblok]

If they've done criminal activities or look as if they've been criminal in this they should rightly be investigated. I wonder if they'll ever get around to investigating the claims that Suthep bought land using donation money from the protests?

"But Suthep"

Another red troll diversion.

Not only that, but without a complaint from people giving money no research has to be done. Its between them and Suthep no criminal thing with public money. I wonder why logic is so hard for reds to follow.

So to get them to do that first criminal charges have to be filed of those involved in this. Without that it will be real hard as this is not public money.