Thai talk: Corruption, Yingluck and rice scheme

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THAI TALK
Corruption, Yingluck and rice scheme
Suthichai Yoon
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The verbal exchange was a rare one, and as its focus was former Premier Yingluck Shinawatra and allegations concerning corruption in the controversial rice price-pledging policy, it inevitably escalated into a showdown that became the talk of the town.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) were last week locked in a face-off over a historic case that could have far-reaching consequences for the country.

The NACC's investigation of the rice price-pledging scheme found that Yingluck was guilty of negligence in not halting the project despite various warnings from the NACC and National Audit Council. There was also corruption "every step of the way" in the implementation of the project.

The probe alleged that the country had suffered a loss of Bt500,000 million as a result - and that somebody must take responsibility for the misuse of public funds.

The OAG studied the NACC report and declared last week that it was full of loopholes. It wasn't going to indict Yingluck and, following legal procedure, would ask the NACC to form a joint committee to look into the case again to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to press charges against the former premier.

The NACC's spokesman, Vicha Mahakhun, who also headed the probe, was plainly exasperated. He publicly challenged the OAG's competence and suggested that the Attorney-General's Office might be suffering low morale.

The OAG posed several questions suggesting the NACC might not have done a thorough job. One of the questions was whether the NACC had tried hard enough to find out what Yingluck had done after she had been given warnings about possible corruption.

The big, and highly controversial question, posed by the OAG was: Did the premier have the right to roll back a scheme that the Pheu Thai Party had pledged to the people before the election? In other words, can politicians renege on their election-platform promises once they are elected to run the country?

Also, the OAG wanted the anti-corruption commission to provide more detailed evidence to support its "corruption-at-every-step-of-the-way" allegation: Just how did corruption take place at all those steps?

The chief public prosecutor also faulted the NACC in citing the Thailand Development Research Institute report on the issue without providing the full report. "There was only the cover page of the research in the report submitted to the OAG," it said.

The NACC hit back, arguing that it had covered all the areas of the case and that perhaps the OAG wasn't paying attention to the main points of the issue. One senior official from the anti-graft agency pointed out that the probe was focused on Yingluck's failure to halt the corruption, rather than on the detail of the corrupt practices themselves.

The existing law provides for a joint panel in instances where there are questions about a particular case. In this case, both sides will nominate their representatives to thrash out any remaining questions before deciding whether to proceed with the allegations.

But even if the joint effort fails to come to a consensus, the NACC is still empowered by law to file charges directly with the court anyway. And time is running out. The joint committee must be formed in 14 days, after which it has 14 more days to reach a conclusion on whether indictment is possible.

Quite apart from the legal arguments, analysts will probably point to the highly political nature of the issue. That was proved almost instantly when one of Yingluck's close aides, former deputy premier Surapong Tovichakchaikul, came out immediately to accuse the anti-corruption agency of being biased against the previous government, adding that some NACC board members had prejudged the case anyway.

Whatever the outcome of the joint probe, the outcome of the proceedings will be crucial to the political future of Yingluck - and, by implication, the Pheu Thai Party.

The rice scheme was one of the major vote-getting platforms in Pheu Thai's election campaign. The idea was to woo farmers' votes. That mission failed miserably. What's worse, it has wrecked Thailand's rice export market with an impossibly high pledging price.

The widespread corruption in the implementation of the project was the last straw - and no matter how Yingluck tried to distance herself from the fraudulent practices, it's hard to see how she can avoid being held responsible for such a major political debacle on a national scale.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Corruption-Yingluck-and-rice-scheme-30242981.html


-- The Nation 2014-09-11

[terryp]

one thing for sure the corrupt parasites almost never say ...yes I did it, so why expect anything different from this one

[FireMedic]

Let us know when someone goes to jail. Until then, it's all the same rhetoric.

[NongKhaiKid]

'Thai Talk ' is most appropriate and just about sums things up as they're so good at talking about all sorts of things but don't expect much action, well not in a hurry anyway.

[Robby nz]

The timeframes on this don't look encouraging.

The NACC have been investigating the rice scheme for over 2 years, the OAG had only a few days to review the NACC report as presented to them and now the committee has only 14 days to go through the conclusion of the 2 years work.

Far to much of a rush at the end of a long investigation.

[Paulzed]

The Country lost 500 million....Isn't that about the same amount of money Thaksin borrowed off the Russians, for that construction project in Dubai that went belly up and the investors lost everything.

The Russians would still want to be payed back plus interest of course.

Just throwing it out there what do you think?

[NongKhaiKid]

The timeframes on this don't look encouraging.

The NACC have been investigating the rice scheme for over 2 years, the OAG had only a few days to review the NACC report as presented to them and now the committee has only 14 days to go through the conclusion of the 2 years work.

Far to much of a rush at the end of a long investigation.

Is it just a means to an end ?

[ramrod711]

The widespread corruption in the implementation of the project was the last straw - and no matter how Yingluck tried to distance herself from the fraudulent practices, it's hard to see how she can avoid being held responsible for such a major political debacle on a national scale.

She should be held responsible, the problem is that she would be the first. Breaking new ground is always more difficult.

[MaxLee]

"The OAG studied the NACC report and declared last week that it was full of loopholes."

That's what you call "paid in advance" from Dubai.

The OAG is full of crap and another Pheu Thai pawn.

Edited September 11, 2014 by MaxLee

[tomacht8]

The Country lost 500 million....Isn't that about the same amount of money Thaksin borrowed off the Russians, for that construction project in Dubai that went belly up and the investors lost everything.

The Russians would still want to be payed back plus interest of course.

Just throwing it out there what do you think?

Wish they had lost only 500 millions

The Country lost 500 - 700 billions with the rice scam.

The 500 Million was the heist from Nimon, Ruangwan and Somkid co-owned a Kasikornbank savings account No 001-0-03796-9. Bank records show money being transferred to this account in the morning and being withdrawn in the afternoon.

The state has failed to get even one baht back until today.

The criminals are allowed to keep their booty, even if they are caught.

Edited September 11, 2014 by tomacht8

[Roadman]

And time is running out. The joint committee must be formed in 14 days, after which it has 14 more days to reach a conclusion on whether indictment is possible.

The issue here apart from both these groups airing their grievances or lack of believe or trust in each other in public is this above. Not sure how this relates to other countries legal procedures but having a time limit set on forming the investigating committee that if not met can see a case like this thrown out is ridiculous. Thai law needs seriously over hauled let along before even getting to the next steps of the courts and enforcement.

Edited September 11, 2014 by Roadman

[maoro]

The Country lost 500 million....Isn't that about the same amount of money Thaksin borrowed off the Russians, for that construction project in Dubai that went belly up and the investors lost everything.

The Russians would still want to be payed back plus interest of course.

Just throwing it out there what do you think?

The story said 500,000 million

[trogers]

Check for empty biscuits tins in the backyard...

[chainarong]

One thing that hasn't been questioned as to whether Surapong and all the other cabinet ministers and their secretary's, the advisers , the whole PTP administration , did anyone come forward and ask the question , is there corruption and if there is what are we going to do about it , don't place all the blame on one person if corruption is evident, it is the duty of care to inform and act.

[pookiki]

Everything in the Thai justice system takes sooooooo long. Like a snail going up hill in molasses. After two years of investigation, the NACC uses the TDRI report as a centerpiece to buttress their investigation? At this juncture, I would just ask for the evidence which shows that the pledging program actually cost the country 500 billion baht and how those figures were calculated.

At the same time, and in the name or transparency, the government should release the annual cost of all subsidies including the value of tax subsidies granted to international companies operating in the numerous industrial estates.

As an aside, has anyone read the TRDI report? What does it claim/allege?

[sweatalot]

"The OAG studied the NACC report and declared last week that it was full of loopholes."

That's what you call "paid in advance" from Dubai.

The OAG is full of crap and another Pheu Thai pawn.

I don't know if this is true.

But it certainly would make a lot of sense

[SOTIRIOS]

..........'over 80% of the rice crops'....500 million baht......only.....???.......

[DDbkh]

One thing that hasn't been questioned as to whether Surapong and all the other cabinet ministers and their secretary's, the advisers , the whole PTP administration , did anyone come forward and ask the question , is there corruption and if there is what are we going to do about it , don't place all the blame on one person if corruption is evident, it is the duty of care to inform and act.

Unfortunately, this runs in to the Thai cultural problems of 'kriang jai', and patronage. Nobody came forward because, amongst other things, they couldn't say that the Boss in Dubai was wrong - he would lose face. Even if there was no obvious personal gain for these people, this would have been enough to put them off blowing the whistle.

YS was supposedly in charge but despite all the denials she was just a figure head and probably was as ignorant of what was going on as she was about most things that happened in her 'government'.

[greenchair]

The nacc has a valid point. In order to know if she made efforts to stop the corruption, one must know what the corruption is that she must stop.

[Boxclever]

"One senior official from the anti-graft agency pointed out that the probe was focused on Yingluck's failure to halt the corruption, rather than on the detail of the corrupt practices themselves." ....So actually not having any proof or even have committed a crime, she is going to be guilty anyway

[Dogmatix]

The widespread corruption in the implementation of the project was the last straw - and no matter how Yingluck tried to distance herself from the fraudulent practices, it's hard to see how she can avoid being held responsible for such a major political debacle on a national scale.

She should be held responsible, the problem is that she would be the first. Breaking new ground is always more difficult.

The foreign pro-Thaksinites argue that these are completely trumped up charges. The rice scheme was a PT policy that the electorate voted for and therefore neither Yingluck nor anyone else can be held accountable. I have had bitter discussions with people who argue this line.

[scorecard]

Part quote: "The big, and highly controversial question, posed by the OAG was: Did the premier have the right to roll back a scheme that the Pheu Thai Party had pledged to the people before the election? In other words, can politicians renege on their election-platform promises once they are elected to run the country?"

.... the right..... is not the question.

What is relevant is that she had the duty on behalf of all Thai people to stop / adjust a scheme which is clearly lacking in many ways including, at least, theft of massive amounts of taxpayers funds.

How can it be any other way?

[scorecard]

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One thing that hasn't been questioned as to whether Surapong and all the other cabinet ministers and their secretary's, the advisers , the whole PTP administration , did anyone come forward and ask the question , is there corruption and if there is what are we going to do about it , don't place all the blame on one person if corruption is evident, it is the duty of care to inform and act. alt=bah.gif>

Agree, surely there are multiple culprits in this mess, all of whom should be punished, if found guilty of course.

[Old Man River]

Everything in the Thai justice system takes sooooooo long. Like a snail going up hill in molasses. After two years of investigation, the NACC uses the TDRI report as a centerpiece to buttress their investigation? At this juncture, I would just ask for the evidence which shows that the pledging program actually cost the country 500 billion baht and how those figures were calculated.

At the same time, and in the name or transparency, the government should release the annual cost of all subsidies including the value of tax subsidies granted to international companies operating in the numerous industrial estates.

As an aside, has anyone read the TRDI report? What does it claim/allege?

The Nation, on August 23rd wrote an article about TDRI's report. In that article is states that TDRI found that the country had paid THB 985 billion to buy 54.4 million tones of paddy in two and half years under the scrapped rice pledging scheme, but most of the THB 560 billion producer surplus went to medium to large scale farmers. The TDRI estimated total corruption of THB 111billion.

For more information from the article you can go to tdri.or.th

[DrLom]

"The big, and highly controversial question, posed by the OAG was: Did the premier have the right to roll back a scheme that the Pheu Thai Party had pledged to the people before the election? In other words, can politicians renege on their election-platform promises once they are elected to run the country?"

What a ridiculous question. It's what happens all over the world

[Paulzed]

The Country lost 500 million....Isn't that about the same amount of money Thaksin borrowed off the Russians, for that construction project in Dubai that went belly up and the investors lost everything.

The Russians would still want to be payed back plus interest of course.

Just throwing it out there what do you think?

The story said 500,000 million

They must have charged more interest than we thought then!

[indyuk]

This issue should be resolved by the Junta since this issue appears to be at the root of the public malaise that necessitated the coups.

[Old Man River]

Part quote: "The big, and highly controversial question, posed by the OAG was: Did the premier have the right to roll back a scheme that the Pheu Thai Party had pledged to the people before the election? In other words, can politicians renege on their election-platform promises once they are elected to run the country?"

.... the right..... is not the question.

What is relevant is that she had the duty on behalf of all Thai people to stop / adjust a scheme which is clearly lacking in many ways including, at least, theft of massive amounts of taxpayers funds.

How can it be any other way?

I agree.

What is also interesting is that YL has said she tried to lower the pledging amounts, but the farmers didn't let her. I never understood that comment.

[Baerboxer]

One thing that hasn't been questioned as to whether Surapong and all the other cabinet ministers and their secretary's, the advisers , the whole PTP administration , did anyone come forward and ask the question , is there corruption and if there is what are we going to do about it , don't place all the blame on one person if corruption is evident, it is the duty of care to inform and act.

Does Thailand have Duty of Care legislation and legislation that provided people must act?

Could you cite it please as I'd really like to read it.

[Baerboxer]

This issue should be resolved by the Junta since this issue appears to be at the root of the public malaise that necessitated the coups.

Wrong. The issue at the root was the attempt to sneak total amnesty for Thaksin through. Voting at 4.00 am, promising all the bills had been killed when "the" one that achieved this hadn't, and Yingluck and Clan trying to make sure they were in power when the time was up and they could simply write the bill into law despite the senates rejection.

That's what brought the mass protests, not the rice scam.