Yingluck & former ministers to pay half trillion baht compensation

[scorecard]

That's $14,321,621,100 US dollars. Does she have that much?

Not if your number is correct, $14 billion? According to Forbes richest list she has a net worth of around $17 million. So no she and the other former ministers probably could never repay that amount. So it looks like that number is just token wow number for thais to try and wrap there head around

Is there such a calculation?

Seems to me the point is how much was lost because of total, complete, and immoral dereliction of duty.

[speedtripler]

Remember all those suitcases Yingluck took with her to France and other places? They could have been jammed packed full of money....but she had diplomatic immunity so no-one outside the inner circle would know! If that is right the money is in Litchenstein or the Caymans safely tucked away in a secret account by now.

Doesn't need to by shipped out in suitcases.

Her cronies will know a dozen different methods to move / transfer large amounts of funds by non mainstream bank systems, and at the same time avoiding money laundering checks.

thaksin has a VAST portfolio including gold or diamond mines in africa i read a couple of years back

,im sure he could advise very well how to get the money into some legit bank or investment where general prayut

cant touch it

[soalbundy]

what is the point, she wont be able to pay it. As Agareth2 wrote, who is going to be brave enough now to fund a public program and they are needed if the economy is to improve

[speedtripler]

That's $14,321,621,100 US dollars. Does she have that much?

Not if your number is correct, $14 billion? According to Forbes richest list she has a net worth of around $17 million. So no she and the other former ministers probably could never repay that amount. So it looks like that number is just token wow number for thais to try and wrap there head around

somehow i dont think forbes numbers would be accurate for thailand lol

too many deals done under the table to even be counted

[jerome2]

That's a world first .... a state run ransom hostage taking.......

against the best prime minister they ever had who stopped yabaa for 10 years

Edited September 19, 2015 by jerome2

[robblok]

what is the point, she wont be able to pay it. As Agareth2 wrote, who is going to be brave enough now to fund a public program and they are needed if the economy is to improve

The whole problem was that this program was not taken into the budget, because it was cost neutral according to them (would not cost mney) and even when proof was mounting they did not adjust the budget. That is a crime. You should see how it plays out in other countries if the budget is not set even though they knew it should have been. It criminal then too. (going over budget is not criminal, it turns criminal if you know it will go over budget but wont report it or try to hide it)

So other projects will have no problems as long as you budget them in the national budget.

[speedtripler]

what is the point, she wont be able to pay it. As Agareth2 wrote, who is going to be brave enough now to fund a public program and they are needed if the economy is to improve

The whole problem was that this program was not taken into the budget, because it was cost neutral according to them (would not cost mney) and even when proof was mounting they did not adjust the budget. That is a crime. You should see how it plays out in other countries if the budget is not set even though they knew it should have been. It criminal then too. (going over budget is not criminal, it turns criminal if you know it will go over budget but wont report it or try to hide it)

So other projects will have no problems as long as you budget them in the national budget.

i still believe in every lucrative deal , a fair chunk of the cash gets siphoned off and the remainder is left to do the job half properly

so it will need redone again within a couple of yrs .........

for just one example look how many roads collapse ........

[robblok]

what is the point, she wont be able to pay it. As Agareth2 wrote, who is going to be brave enough now to fund a public program and they are needed if the economy is to improve

The whole problem was that this program was not taken into the budget, because it was cost neutral according to them (would not cost mney) and even when proof was mounting they did not adjust the budget. That is a crime. You should see how it plays out in other countries if the budget is not set even though they knew it should have been. It criminal then too. (going over budget is not criminal, it turns criminal if you know it will go over budget but wont report it or try to hide it)

So other projects will have no problems as long as you budget them in the national budget.

i still believe in every lucrative deal , a fair chunk of the cash gets siphoned off and the remainder is left to do the job half properly

so it will need redone again within a couple of yrs .........

for just one example look how many roads collapse ........

In this program there was corruption too the fake G2G deals and probably some of the storage prices were inflated. Not to mention foreign rice went into the program. So sure that was part of the problem too. The two deputies will hang for the fake G2G deals.

I did not say there were no other problems with the program just mentioned that this part was easy to prove. She was warned by the world bank and many others that this program was costing money and was not cost neutral. She threatened the people from the accounting program when they came out with figures that showed a loss. They went after the democrats for stealing rice (when they showed the rotten rice from storage to the public)

[mike324]

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party (Thais Love Thais Party) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 375 seats.

2006 his party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity.

Do you remember why a party with such a big win had to call elections for 14 months later? Do you remember the blatant abuses of office, including the B9 billion loan from KTB, and the illegal attempts to force a result from the 2006 election which saw the party banned?

Banned by the minority opposition. Ya I remember that. I thoroughly understand. If you can't win at the polls what's a fellow to do? Do you remember the last time that Thaksin family lost an election? It's slipped my mind.

Well to be fair, more than 50% of the Thais think corruption is ok if it benefited them...so you can't really apply western standards and democracy to this country yet until that type of thinking changes and laws can be enforced.

Winning polls yet not enforcing the laws is no better too, in the end the root cause are always the lack of enforcement that causes the society to move backwards. TRT/PTP has been in office for the better part of the decade, what has improved? Big shiny buildings, infrastructure, but the society and people has been sliding backwards. Winning elections no longer means anything, history has proven itself parties continue to be corrupt and have no shame about it.

Rice deal under TRT was condemn by all organizations and was proven to be a failure, yet PTP repeated the same program saying they would be transparent - no figures for 2 years Yingluck was in office. The list goes on, enough is enough.

Edited September 19, 2015 by mike324

[somo]

But not to the poor farmers that it was intended to help.

The govt has spent more than it expects to receive for the rice.

Who did it give the money to? Farmers, rice mills, warehouses, trucking companies.

The money went into the economy.

Sure some of the dosh was redirected away from it's intended destination. That's what corruption does. But the money doesn't disappear it is spent/saved and so remains part of the economy. The damage to the economy caused by the coup however is a true loss.

OMG you are justifying corruption.

SHAME ON YOU. I would not believe such disgusting comments if I did not read them directly.

You people belong in some primitive medieval village. You were born about 500 years after your time.

Calm down. Deep breaths, hold it in, count to 3, exhale and repeat 5 times Getting all in a tiss may give you a stroke or heart attack.

How you conclude I am condoning corruption I don't know. Nowhere do I condone it but trying to explain that it is not the same as taking money out of the economy but that it results in a bad or unintended allocation of resources.

Deep breaths, deep breaths

[yuv06]

I wish the good general well trying to defend this one to the civilised world on his upcoming trip to the UN

Defend corruption?

[yuv06]

Good she should get what she deserves for looting Thai coffers of USD 20 billion

[mikemac]

Good job done by PM Prayuth Chan o cha We salute you & the people of Thailand salute you .........

Someone needed to take control and try to get back the billions missing and wasted payed by taxpayers.

Deputy PM for legal affairs Wissanu Krea-ngam said he would seek Prime Minister approval from General Prayut Chan-o-cha on this issue by September 30, so that the Ministry of Finance can issue the order for compensation.

A bit premature on your congratulations of the PM considering he hasn't even approved it yet.

Who's we? I haven't seen a single common Thai person salute him but I have witnessed many turning off their Television every night at 6pm and Friday at 8pm. I have asked and spoken with many Thai's that I know who live outside of bkk and very few have anything positive to say about this government.

I think a certain percentage of the population, mostly TVF members and reds give him the one finger salute and the vast percentage are a bit apathetic about it all. It's just another coup to them.

I doubt if anything will come of this recovering the money business, it's just the PM's way of giving the Shins his version of the one finger salute.

Actually I thought he would have totally banned both the PTP and their terrorists by now. Perhaps he is going to play with their heads for a while first.

[Bakseeda]

bad precedent

not sure any gov't would put forward any public programmes under this rule

The rice scheme was not such a bad idea.... It was just so blatantly plundered by her band of thieves. I was told by a friend in Surin that her brother was driving a lorry , one of a convoy of four, non-stop for months , full of rice from Cambodia. All for claiming the subsidy.. Thank you very much Yinluck.

[kkerry]

There was already a precedent where a senior government official was held negligent and made to compensate the State for losses to the State.

Go read the case by the government of Thailand of Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra against Roengchai Marakanon, former head of the Bank of Thailand during the economic crisis of 1997, in a negligence liabilities of officials case where Roengchai was made to compensate the State.

How much did Roengchai have to pay back the state and did he?

[smedly]

bad precedent

not sure any gov't would put forward any public programmes under this rule

The rice scheme was not such a bad idea.... It was just so blatantly plundered by her band of thieves. I was told by a friend in Surin that her brother was driving a lorry , one of a convoy of four, non-stop for months , full of rice from Cambodia. All for claiming the subsidy.. Thank you very much Yinluck.

and it was all rotten and worthless, the good Thai fresh stuff being shipped the other way, the rice was rotten and so were the people involved

[steve654]

Isn't ordering someone to hand over around 500 billion baht about the same type reasoning as to sentence someone to serve one million years in jail?

[Fat Haggis]

I guess Yingluck needn't bother turning up for the rest of the case(s) against her, she's already been found guilty and will have to foot part of the bill, it doesn't bode well for the Koh Ta murder case, if all such cases have already been decided prior to all the evidence having been submitted, because if the powers that be want a result, they get that result.. Justice Thai style.. amazing

[ddavidovsky]

It's not possible to put YL in prison - she would instantly become a martyr like Aung San Suu Kyi and the entire world would come down on Thailand.

The intent of this ridiculous court case and beyond-ridiculous penalty is presumably to force YL into exile, then they will have eradicated the opposition, avoided any messy internal dealings, and can start screaming 'criminal fugitive' again.

Edited September 19, 2015 by ddavidovsky

[lostoday]

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party (Thais Love Thais Party) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 375 seats.

2006 his party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity.

Do you remember why a party with such a big win had to call elections for 14 months later? Do you remember the blatant abuses of office, including the B9 billion loan from KTB, and the illegal attempts to force a result from the 2006 election which saw the party banned?

Banned by the minority opposition. Ya I remember that. I thoroughly understand. If you can't win at the polls what's a fellow to do? Do you remember the last time that Thaksin family lost an election? It's slipped my mind.

Well to be fair, more than 50% of the Thais think corruption is ok if it benefited them...so you can't really apply western standards and democracy to this country yet until that type of thinking changes and laws can be enforced.

Winning polls yet not enforcing the laws is no better too, in the end the root cause are always the lack of enforcement that causes the society to move backwards. TRT/PTP has been in office for the better part of the decade, what has improved? Big shiny buildings, infrastructure, but the society and people has been sliding backwards. Winning elections no longer means anything, history has proven itself parties continue to be corrupt and have no shame about it.

Rice deal under TRT was condemn by all organizations and was proven to be a failure, yet PTP repeated the same program saying they would be transparent - no figures for 2 years Yingluck was in office. The list goes on, enough is enough.

Who says enough is enough? An unelected minority? TV shills? Ya right.

[johninbkk71]

Perhaps this is an indication that Thailand will never ever have elections agian and the military plan to maintain strict control forever.

Good. I hope they do.

[ResandePohm]

what is the point, she wont be able to pay it. As Agareth2 wrote, who is going to be brave enough now to fund a public program and they are needed if the economy is to improve

Hopefully competent people who know what they are doing and who carry out their responsibilities diligently unlike the previous government.

[Baerboxer]

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party (Thais Love Thais Party) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 375 seats.

2006 his party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity.

Do you remember why a party with such a big win had to call elections for 14 months later? Do you remember the blatant abuses of office, including the B9 billion loan from KTB, and the illegal attempts to force a result from the 2006 election which saw the party banned?

Banned by the minority opposition. Ya I remember that. I thoroughly understand. If you can't win at the polls what's a fellow to do? Do you remember the last time that Thaksin family lost an election? It's slipped my mind.

TRT were caught committing election fraud. They didn't deny they contravened the election law in an attempt to validate elections. Why do you?

Can you remember a time when a Thaksin family government, even with a big parliamentary seat majority, didn't get caught breaking the law?

Slipped your mind or honest mistake - easy to happen. Pasty box anyone?

[Baerboxer]

It's not possible to put YL in prison - she would instantly become a martyr like Aung San Suu Kyi and the entire world would come down on Thailand.

The intent of this ridiculous court case and beyond-ridiculous penalty is presumably to force YL into exile, then they will have eradicated the opposition, avoided any messy internal dealings, and can start screaming 'criminal fugitive' again.

You are not serious are you? Do you think any government, embassy, diplomat, NGO, or sensible person would put Yingluck in the same class as Aung San Suu Kyi?

Have you heard about any of them specifically supporting Yingluck?

If you do, then you really are beyond help.

[halloween]

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party (Thais Love Thais Party) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 375 seats.

2006 his party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity.

Do you remember why a party with such a big win had to call elections for 14 months later? Do you remember the blatant abuses of office, including the B9 billion loan from KTB, and the illegal attempts to force a result from the 2006 election which saw the party banned?

Banned by the minority opposition. Ya I remember that. I thoroughly understand. If you can't win at the polls what's a fellow to do? Do you remember the last time that Thaksin family lost an election? It's slipped my mind.

PPP was banned by the courts for breaches of electoral law. Being elected doesn't mean you are free to make law or policy to benefit yourself. Can you give me any Shinawatra government that didn't display blatant acts of criminality or self-interest? Since when do poll results become of higher value than criminal law?

[scorecard]

That's a world first .... a state run ransom hostage taking.......

against the best prime minister they ever had who stopped yabaa for 10 years

What? Joke of the month.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts about submarines and helicopters have been removed.

[ddavidovsky]

It's not possible to put YL in prison - she would instantly become a martyr like Aung San Suu Kyi and the entire world would come down on Thailand.

The intent of this ridiculous court case and beyond-ridiculous penalty is presumably to force YL into exile, then they will have eradicated the opposition, avoided any messy internal dealings, and can start screaming 'criminal fugitive' again.

You are not serious are you? Do you think any government, embassy, diplomat, NGO, or sensible person would put Yingluck in the same class as Aung San Suu Kyi?

Have you heard about any of them specifically supporting Yingluck?

If you do, then you really are beyond help.

Carry on ignoring all the undercurrents, such Mark Kent's speech that so riled Prayuth.

If Yingluck was thrown in prison, then the support would become specific enough. Besides, the Thai people - you know, the ones who used to have a vote before they were forcibly disenfranchised - wouldn't like it one bit. But hey, carry on. The fascists are hurtling downhill into a brick wall as is the nature of fascism. Go ahead and slam your foot on the accelerator. Lock her up and see what happens.

[scorecard]

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party (Thais Love Thais Party) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 375 seats.

2006 his party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity.

Do you remember why a party with such a big win had to call elections for 14 months later? Do you remember the blatant abuses of office, including the B9 billion loan from KTB, and the illegal attempts to force a result from the 2006 election which saw the party banned?

Banned by the minority opposition. Ya I remember that. I thoroughly understand. If you can't win at the polls what's a fellow to do? Do you remember the last time that Thaksin family lost an election? It's slipped my mind.

PPP was banned by the courts for breaches of electoral law. Being elected doesn't mean you are free to make law or policy to benefit yourself. Can you give me any Shinawatra government that didn't display blatant acts of criminality or self-interest? Since when do poll results become of higher value than criminal law?

And do you remember that his cousin, chaisit shinawatra, who the paymaster promoted to defense minister (jumped many ranks in one move), was caught red-handed manipulating voter lists for the benefit of the paymasters gang?

Edited September 19, 2015 by scorecard

[scorecard]

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party (Thais Love Thais Party) of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 375 seats.

2006 his party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity.

Do you remember why a party with such a big win had to call elections for 14 months later? Do you remember the blatant abuses of office, including the B9 billion loan from KTB, and the illegal attempts to force a result from the 2006 election which saw the party banned?

Banned by the minority opposition. Ya I remember that. I thoroughly understand. If you can't win at the polls what's a fellow to do? Do you remember the last time that Thaksin family lost an election? It's slipped my mind.

'Can't win at the polls', well how about 'can't get an amnesty through parliament' so resort to nasty tactics at 3:00 am in the morning when the good people of Thailand are asleep to try to push a vote through and use other peoples voting cards and totally block the opposition from speaking in parliament, which they are fully entitled to do. But they got caught, again.