Pheu Thai Party questions govt rice auctions but denies connection to ex-PM

[webfact]

Pheu Thai Party questions govt rice auctions but denies connection to ex-PM

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

BANGKOK: -- Pheu Thai Party politicians yesterday denied that their ongoing scrutiny of an auction of low-quality rice from government stocks had anything to do with the court case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

“Our scrutiny has nothing to do with the court case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. We are doing this because the government seems to be hastily selling rice from its stocks at this time,” Pheu Thai politician Yuthapong Charassathien said.

“Do not view our move as politically motivated. We are just looking for possible irregularities to protect the public interest,” he added.

 

Yuthapong served as deputy agriculture minister in the government led by Yingluck. He is now head of a Pheu Thai working group scrutinising the post-coup government’s sale of rice.

 

A lot of the rice in the government stocks was bought at prices far higher than the market price during the tenure of the Pheu Thai-led government.

 

The case against Yingluck, a key Pheu Thai figure, is being heard by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders. A negligence charge stems from her government’s corruption-plagued rice-pledging scheme, which was estimated to cause more than Bt500 billion in losses to state coffers. 

 

The court’s last hearing is scheduled for later this month and a verdict is expected within two months.

 

Yuthapong yesterday called on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who also serves as chairman of the National Rice Policy Committee, to order an investigation into an alleged irregularity involving the auction of government rice. 

 

Pheu Thai politicians have suggested that a lot of the rice was auctioned off as animal feed although its quality was good enough for human consumption, adding that some of the purchased rice would eventually be resold for human consumption.

 

Yuthapong said an animal feed company that bought 14,035 tonnes of rice classified as low quality had a production capacity of only 11 tonnes a day. “Even though this company produces animal feed non-stop, around the clock, it will take them seven years to use up all the purchased raw materials,” he said.

 

In another case he highlighted, an animal feed factory in Ratchaburi bought almost 39,000 tonnes of “low quality” rice from the government stock. Judging from its current production capacity, the factory would take 20 years to use all the raw materials, he added.

 

The Pheu Thai politician claimed that photos had been sent to him anonymously to prove that the Ratchaburi animal feed factory did not store the purchased rice at its warehouse. 

 

He also asked Prayut to issue an order for the warehouse to be examined. 

 

Yuthapong said he would lead media today to inspect the Ratchaburi factory to determine whether the rice bought was stored there.

 

Meanwhile, Democrat Party politician Warong Dechgitvigrom yesterday urged the government to be strict about checking the quality of rice in its stocks before auctions. 

 

He said that would prevent possible corruption allegations and possible irregularities by state officials.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30321231

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-20

[klauskunkel]

While I do feel that any scrutiny of the government's actions is better than none, I highly doubt that Pheu Thai does this to "protect the public interest".

[Ricardo]

“Our scrutiny has nothing to do with the court case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. We are doing this because the government seems to be hastily selling rice from its stocks at this time,” Pheu Thai politician Yuthapong Charassathien said.

“Do not view our move as politically motivated. We are just looking for possible irregularities to protect the public interest,” he added."

 

 

I wouldn't regard the sale, now close to its end according to another thread yesterday, as being all that "hasty" as-claimed  ...  not when it has taken three years to be carried-out ?

 

And it's good that they are highlighting a warehouse in Ratchaburi, for further investigation, as reported above.

 

If only they had done this sort of thing while the PTP-led coalition-government was in power, then some of the corruption & abuse might have been deterred, or exposed sooner ?  Or perhaps not. 

[ballpoint]

PTP monitors rice sales for irregularities

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by ballpoint

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

17 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

While I do feel that any scrutiny of the government's actions is better than none, I highly doubt that Pheu Thai does this to "protect the public interest".

You must see the whole picture. The junta never involved an outside auditor to verify how many rice was in stock or what was good or bad. They send in troops to count and classify/grade the rice. I know the RTF is highly competent but I didnt know they are proffesional rice graders. At the time I and others warned that the lack of outside scrutiny will lead to corruption. It is very easy to grade good quality rice as animal feed grade and sell it at very low prices. The buyer then rework this rice and sell this rice at a massive profit, which is shared with those who assisted in the grading (this is what PTP is hinting at). The best thing however is that this loss is then blamed on the previous government. A great money making scheme and no one can prove it. Also you must look back at how long it took this government to get rid of the rice that was in stock. If my memory serves me right it was close to a year before they started to sell low quality rice. This increased the losses as there is storage costs thats added each month as well as the quality that deteriorated. Also look who is the biggest single animal feed user in the country and who paid for the 2013/14 protest and then you will see 2+2 still =4. 

[klauskunkel]

8 minutes ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

You must see the whole picture. The junta never involved an outside auditor to verify how many rice was in stock or what was good or bad. They send in troops to count and classify/grade the rice. I know the RTF is highly competent but I didnt know they are proffesional rice graders. At the time I and others warned that the lack of outside scrutiny will lead to corruption. It is very easy to grade good quality rice as animal feed grade and sell it at very low prices. The buyer then rework this rice and sell this rice at a massive profit, which is shared with those who assisted in the grading (this is what PTP is hinting at). The best thing however is that this loss is then blamed on the previous government. A great money making scheme and no one can prove it. Also you must look back at how long it took this government to get rid of the rice that was in stock. If my memory serves me right it was close to a year before they started to sell low quality rice. This increased the losses as there is storage costs thats added each month as well as the quality that deteriorated. Also look who is the biggest single animal feed user in the country and who paid for the 2013/14 protest and then you will see 2+2 still =4. 

While I do like and agree with the spirit of your statement, I still feel that Pheu Thai is not an altruistic organization and for them using the "public interest" label is a way to drive a different agenda. This is my subjective opinion, not based on fact, but derived from Pheu Thai's actions in the past.

[nahkit]

3 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

While I do like and agree with the spirit of your statement, I still feel that Pheu Thai is not an altruistic organization and for them using the "public interest" label is a way to drive a different agenda. This is my subjective opinion, not based on fact, but derived from Pheu Thai's actions in the past.

I think it's irrelevant as to why Pheu Thai has brought this up, the government could easily prove, one way or another, if what they say is correct or not so why not hire a couple of qualified, independent (i.e not army people), examiners to grade the rice and end the speculation?

[williamgeorgeallen]

whole scam was rotten from start to finish.

[Srikcir]

On 7/20/2017 at 8:52 AM, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

The junta never involved an outside auditor to verify how many rice was in stock or what was good or bad.

It was perhaps a little more convoluted:

 

One of Prayut’s first orders following the May 22 coup was for the authorities to count and audit rice tonnage in the state's stocks and hold off on offloading them to prevent a further price slump.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/thai-rice-subsidy-leaves-junta-in-a-quandary-1403104286

(sorry paid article subscription)

In response the rice inspection committee reported to the Rice Policy Committee in July 2014 that only 10% of rice stockpiles had spoiled and only some sacks were missing, while 80% was in still good condition. https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/746979-thai-rice-pledging-scheme-80-percent-of-rice-is-fine/

The rice inspection committee includes “Rice surveyors” who are responsible to check quality of rice in the government’s stockpiles. While Prayut as PM replaced Yingluck as Chariman of the Rice Policy Committee, the surveyors appear to act independently of the military as shown in a disagreement they had with the government on quality of rice in the government stockpiles being sold as rotten rice to V.Tanasub Co. to make fertilizers.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/895415-surveyors-block-ministrys-attempt-to-transport-rotten-rice-from-warehouse/

Subsequent to the original rice audit by the rice inspection committee, the government declared apparently from its own military audit that 90% of the government stockpile was rotten. So it would seem the Prayut government decided as a matter of politics what the pledged rice condition was.

 

 

[AGareth2]

23 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

whole scam was rotten from start to finish.

and may possibly still be