Officials to defend their role in rice scheme
KRIS BHROMSUTHI
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- PROMINENT figures in Yingluck Shinawatra's government, who have been accused of corruption in relation to the rice-pledging scheme, will deliver their opening remarks to prove their innocence in front of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on April 23.

Several prominent members of Yingluck's administration, such as former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom, former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol and former director of the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Trade Department Manus Soiploy, have charges levelled against them by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). These three individuals are accused of violating Acts 64 and 66.

The three are being accused of allowing two Chinese firms, who were later found to not be representatives of the Chinese government, to sign a contract with the Thai government in a so-called government-to-government deal. The firms also did not undergo the required bidding process.

NLA members yesterday scheduled 9am on April 23 as the time for the two former ministers and high-ranking civil servant to make a case in their defence. NACC representative, Vicha Mahakhun, will deliver opening remarks on the commission's behalf.

Vicha recently played a prominent role as NACC's representative in Yingluck's impeachment case over dereliction of duty that led to rampant corruption in the rice scheme. NLA members subsequently voted to impeach the former premier, effectively banning her from standing for public office for life under the new constitution.

Manus, meanwhile, submitted supporting evidence comprised of nine different documents to the NLA; however, the assembly members rejected the submission, saying most of the documents had already been handed over to NACC and the remainder could be used by Manus in his defence remarks.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Officials-to-defend-their-role-in-rice-scheme-30257322.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-03

I can just foresee their opening comments similar to YL. We are innocent because we did it for the people.

Unrsal that they will try and dedend the undefensible

Just once it would be nice to hear a Tgai say "sorry we were wrong" not gonna happen in my lifetime

it was Somchai of chang Mai that did deal I was told deal was approved by my boss and told to sign. You know if you can't trust another Thai who can you trust?

The programme was flawed from the start , it was un -workable, it was up there in the clouds , theses people ,department heads , regardless of your views know their job, the question needs to be asked who in this bunch argued against this silly scheme they and they alone are the only ones who should be exempt( if they weren't sacked) the others who all bowed and scraped their torsos and jumped which ever way the PTP said and asked how high will have no defence they would have known a flawed scheme they are not that dumb , then again they sure don't show much intelligence when it comes down to pleasing their superiors .

But Sir judge: "We had promised to rob the people blind, so we had to follow through"

First election promise ever to be kept in the history of Thailand...................

More comedy gold from PT an the Shinawatra's ... trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for how they screwed the country and the people out of billions of baht that left the actual people they were supposed to be helping in a worse off situation, with less money, more debt, than they were before they started this scam.

But hey, everyone's got nice new cars, houses and iPhones now (that they can't afford) so they can't be all bad I guess. And those that support them will continue to support them despite any evidence or convictions against them. Gotta love the way democracy works here. Sorry, I meant brainwashing.

THEY ARE ALL GUILTY AND JUST PUT THEM IN AN EMPTY RICE BAG AND BEAT THEM UP TO HELL. Afterwards sue them and take all their corruption money and use it for set up the next scheme: maybe rubber or tourists or????

Looking forward to their presentation of proof - "....will deliver their opening remarks to prove their innocence"

Feed them from the rice mountain for 25 years.

I am looking forward to Boonsong Teriyaphirom going down. If ignorance was a crime he would already be in jail.

When the world bank released their figures on the losses incurred by the rice scheme this guy told the people to ignore them because the World Bank were wrong them told the same people his belief of what the figures are. Turned out the FACTS from the world bank was right and his BELIEFS were wrong.

​When the export figures were released our favorite fact manipulator asked the public to ignore those export figures and other evidence indicating that government-to-government rice contracts as not real, while reiterating that the government next year could generate Bt260 billion in sales proceeds for spending on the agricultural price-pledging policy. Guess what!! Go on...Have a guess? Yep...Turns out the FACTS were right and his BELIEFS were wrong......again!

​The fact is this guy epitomizes the PTP ethos of beliefs overriding facts and just for the contempt and utter disrespect he has shown the majority over 3 years I hope he goes down big time.

they can always try the " ich have es nicht gewusst"