Black-clad Yingluck cuts a relaxed figure at Supreme Court

[webfact]

Black-clad Yingluck cuts a relaxed figure at Supreme Court

By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra appeared on good spirit as she arrived at the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning to read her closing statement in the case linked to her then-government’s controversial rice-pledging scheme.
 

Dressed in black, Yingluck arrived at about 8.30am for the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division on Political Office Holders trial.

 

Yingluck smiled and briefly spoke to the media before entering the court.

 

She thanked her supporters and the media.

 

She insisted she is innocent and that the rice-pledging scheme was intended to help farmers.

 

Her lawyer said her closing statement has 20 pages and cover six aspects. The statement will take around one hour to read, starting from 9.30am. 

 

As she emerged from a van at the court, hundreds of her supporters, who began assembling at the court at about 5am, gave her flowers and cheered: “Yingluck fight on, fight on.” 

 

Hundreds of crowd control police from the Metropolitan Police Bureau were deployed at the Supreme Court. Fences were erected in front of the court.

 

Yingluck was charged with negligence for allegedly failing to prevent corruption and irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme.

 

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division on Political Office Holders is set to deliver its verdict on August 25.

 

Yingluck would have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court if the verdict goes against her, provided the draft bill on criminal procedures against political office-holders is enacted in time to cover her case.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30322422

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-01

[webfact]

Thailand's former PM Yingluck to deliver closing remarks in criminal case

By Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panu Wongcha-um

 

Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand, August 1, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for justice as she arrived in court on Tuesday to deliver a closing statement in a criminal case against her in which she is accused of negligence in her handling of a multi-billion dollar rice-buying scheme.

 

More than 1,000 supporters showed up outside the court in Bangkok in defiance of a government warning not to gather en masse as 300 police officers stood guard.

 

Yingluck, who has always maintained her innocence and denies allegations of negligence and graft relating to the scheme, arrived in court as supporters shouted: "Fight! Fight!".

 

"Today I will deliver a verbal closing statement to the court. I am confident that there was no wrong doing and maintain my innocence," Yingluck told reporters outside of the court.

 

"The rice scheme was a useful programme that benefited farmers. I hope that there will be justice."

 

Yingluck, who led a democratically elected government until a May 2014 coup, sailed to victory in a 2011 general election.

 

She was banned from politics for five years in 2015 but remains a figurehead of the populist movement that has won every Thai election since 2001.

 

Her administration introduced a scheme to buy rice from farmers at above market prices, store it and resell it later at a higher price - a plan that appealed to agricultural voters, who make up nearly 40 percent of Thailand's labour force.

 

But the scheme backfired and caused Thailand to lose its crown as the world's largest exporter of the grain.

 

Thailand also ended up with 18 million tonnes of rice in stock piles which the military government has auctioned off since it took power in 2014.

 

Last week, the government said it had frozen assets belonging to Yingluck, including bank accounts and dozens of properties in relation to a separate, administrative order by the state to claim back money lost from the rice scheme.

 

The criminal case against Yingluck is the latest twist in a chapter of political infighting that has pitted Yingluck and her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, against members of the Bangkok-based, military-backed establishment.

 

After being ousted in 2006, Thaksin fled Thailand to avoid a 2008 jail term for corruption. He has lived abroad since, but retains a strong influence over Thai politics.

 

A new bill passed by the National Legislative Assembly on July 13 allows Yingluck to lodge an appeal without the need to submit new evidence if she is found guilty on Aug. 25, when the court is scheduled to rule in the case.

 

(Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panu Wongcha-um; Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-01

[halloween]

IIRC the original stated intention was to help "the poorest farmers" and/or "poor farmers". Best not remind people of that when trying to defend against negligence because the results in that area were scarce, at great expense, and no modification.

[MrJohnson]

The making of a martyr. For all the rights and wrongs of the rice-pledging scheme, this is vengeance, pure and simple. If every former government minister or prime minister were held accountable for these kinds of debacles, the prisons would overflow.

[halloween]

3 minutes ago, MrJohnson said:

The making of a martyr. For all the rights and wrongs of the rice-pledging scheme, this is vengeance, pure and simple. If every former government minister or prime minister were held accountable for these kinds of debacles, the prisons would overflow.

So would that be a good thing or not? Should politicians be held accountable for the funds they are entrusted to manage, or should they have the right to foolishly, negligently and corruptly squander taxpayers money?

Edited August 1, 2017 by halloween

[MrJohnson]

Just now, halloween said:

So would that be a good thing or not? Should politicians be held accountable for the funds they are entrusted to manage, or should they have the right to foolishly and corruptly squander taxpayers money?

It would indeed be a good thing, if it were applied in a fair and just manner. This case, and the one against Taksin's brother-in-law, are clearly politically motivated and designed to finally destroy the Shinawatra clan's political aspirations. Many would applaud that perhaps. My point is that the law should be applied to ALL.

[halloween]

6 minutes ago, Truthteller said:

Why does no other civilised nation on the planet prosecute politicians with similar charges as those against Yingluck? 

Can you nominate a country where such a politician offered an hugely expensive and unworkable policy to buy an election, and then not only refused to modify it to reduce losses, but lied to voters about its success?

[halloween]

Just now, Father Fintan Stack said:

You don't care because you are obsessed with the Shins and want YL to be punished at all costs.

 

Be honest eh?

I am always honest and have never denied I believe the Shinawatra clan to be a parasite on the Thai nation.

 

Now tell me why you ignore and offer excuses for blatant criminal actions?

[AGareth2]

14 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

to shoot civilians in a  Buddhist temple

in my opinion is a war crime

[webfact]

Yingluck in buoyant mood outside court after giving closing statement 

By The Nation

 

A supporter hold a placard in solidarity with former prime minister Yiingluck Shinawatra in front of the Supreme Court Tuesday morning.

 

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra remained on good spirit after delivering her closing statement at the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, in a case linked to her then-government’s controversial rice-pledging scheme.

Dressed in black, Yingluck walked from the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division on Political Office Holders at about 10.45am, after taking about an hour to read the statement.

 

She smiled as she approached her supporters, with hundreds on hand to give her moral support, and she shook their hands. The crowd kept shouting, “Yingluck, fight on.”

 

She briefly spoke to the media and said thank you.

 

Yingluck was charged with negligence for allegedly failing to prevent corruption and irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme.

 

But she insisted she is innocent and had only tried to help farmers.

 

Her lawyer said her closing statement has 20 pages and covers six aspects. 

 

Hundreds of crowd control police from the Metropolitan Police Bureau were deployed at the Supreme Court. Fences were erected in front of the court. 

 

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division on Political Office Holders is set to deliver its verdict on August 25. 

 

Yingluck would have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court if the verdict goes against her, provided the draft bill on criminal procedures against political office-holders is enacted in time to cover her case.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30322433

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-01

[pmh2009]

It's really strange that; lets say after 1932... out of the numerous so called "POLITICIANS" in Thailand, she would be the one to picked for...??? whatever charge!!

[smedly]

people are free to follow whoever they like even though it seems the height of stupidity to others

 

There are still some that don't believe in the moon landings, the world is full of crazies 

[Eric Loh]

3 minutes ago, smedly said:

people are free to follow whoever they like even though it seems the height of stupidity to others

 

There are still some that don't believe in the moon landings, the world is full of crazies 

And few here still insist there was no coup. Ya, we have a few crazies here too. 

[scorecard]

31 minutes ago, pmh2009 said:

It's really strange that; lets say after 1932... out of the numerous so called "POLITICIANS" in Thailand, she would be the one to picked for...??? whatever charge!!

Perhaps you should improve your comprehension skills.

[scorecard]

20 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

And few here still insist there was no coup. Ya, we have a few crazies here too. 

yawn...

[GaryAdriaenssens]

There's a huge circus going on in the USA and there's one in Thailand. It involves certain people who think they are always above the local law regardless what critics are saying. So the laughable sad circus will keep on going and going till new likewise influencial clowns appear on the horizon and continue this charade!!

[metisdead]

Troll posts and replies have been removed. 

[NextStationBangkok]

In fact it helped Farmers to have some standard income, also food productions was increased at a peak level in Thailand, helped the economy to grow multiple fold.

 

The present government is run out of options to generate the tax revenues, and chasing the street vendors out of business.

 

In my soi, a couple running a food business for years closed down. They used to sell 20 different curries in their shop, starting from 30 Baht.

 

Hunger is most dangerous weapon of the people's power. People really hungry, sorry General.

[onthesoi]

4 minutes ago, NextStationBangkok said:

In fact it helped Farmers to have some standard income, also food productions was increased at a peak level in Thailand, helped the economy to grow multiple fold.

 

You sure bro?

[Dogmatix]

Sadly the farmers that hung themselves or died choking on self-administered weed killer, due to the failure of the rice pledging scheme, were not outside the court cheering her and I doubt, if their surviving family members are either.  Thaksin was in such a rush to get his minions to dissolve parliament, imagining his sister returning to power with a large majority, that they pulled the plug without giving Kittirat as Finance Minister time to  draft and issue a Royal Decree to provide funding to the BAAC to complete the payments for rice that had already been delivered.  Meanwhile, the government had made sure that the bandits involved in the fake rice export deals were paid in full with the farmers' money.  This rice was actually re-pledged to the government a second time and the crooks, who allegedly colluded with Thaksin made off with around 6 billion baht.

 

By all accounts the thinking was that Thaksin and his cronies were going to corner the rice global rice market, push prices up and profit immensely from controlling Thailand's entire rice stock.  The plan flopped because they didn't anticipate that India would have a bumper crop and start exporting which suddenly made Thailand a weak player in the global market and forced prices down.  But not to worry, the fall back plan worked well, pretending to export pledged rice at depressed global prices but actually fraudulently pledging it again at the guaranteed price, thereby making the difference between the global price and the artificial pledged price and stuffing the rice pledging scheme with two rounds of losses on the same rice.  That is not to mention the large quantities of rice that were imported from Laos and Cambodia and pledged to the government.      

 

I am sure that none of this was as a result of her planning because she was only a figurehead who didn't plan anything or even have much clue what was going on.  Nevertheless, she was in a position to prevent the corruption, probably had a good idea about some of it and chose to do nothing.  In fact, no one except her and her inner circle can say for sure that she didn't also profit personally from the fraud in the rice pledging scheme.  Her brother is alleged to have orchestrated the corrupt deals, using one rice trader who is also a fugitive from justice.  Thai authorities have made no efforts to try to find out whether she received any inexplicable payments in her offshore bank accounts, which could have been a share of commission payments.   

                

Edited August 1, 2017 by Dogmatix

[NextStationBangkok]

2 minutes ago, onthesoi said:

 

You sure bro?

We cannot deny the facts, see the graph. The rural had big support for Taksin party, which later chaired by Yingluck.

 

 

I am not lying, many business are suffering in Thailand, especially rural population have no money. Government have no plans.

 

Only Tourist show is going one until the beaches are turning dirty. In the near future Cambodia and Myanmar will catch up the tour business.

 

If budget Airlines flying to the earlier said destinations directly from Dubai and Qatar, everything will be finished here.

 

 

[Eric Loh]

3 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Sadly the farmers that hung themselves or died choking on self-administered weed killer, due to the failure of the rice pledging scheme, were not outside the court cheering her and I doubt, if their surviving family members are either.  Thaksin was in such a rush to get his minions to dissolve parliament, imagining his sister returning to power with a large majority, that they pulled the plug without giving Kittirat as Finance Minister time to  draft and issue a Royal Decree to provide funding to the BAAC to complete the payments for rice that had already been delivered.  Meanwhile, the government had made sure that the bandits involved in the fake rice export deals were paid in full with the farmers' money.  This rice was actually re-pledged to the government a second time and the crooks, who allegedly colluded with Thaksin made off with around 6 billion baht.

 

By all accounts the thinking was that Thaksin and his cronies were going to corner the rice global rice market, push prices up and profit immensely from controlling Thailand's entire rice stock.  The plan flopped because they didn't anticipate that India would have a bumper crop and start exporting which suddenly made Thailand a weak player in the global market and forced prices down.  But not to worry, the fall back plan worked well, pretending to export pledged rice at depressed global prices but actually fraudulently pledging it again at the guaranteed price, thereby making the difference between the global price and the artificial pledged price and stuffing the rice pledging scheme with two rounds of losses on the same rice.  That is not to mention the large quantities of rice that were imported from Laos and Cambodia and pledged to the government.      

 

I am sure that none of this was as a result of her planning because she was only a figurehead who didn't plan anything or even have much clue what was going on.  Nevertheless, she was in a position to prevent the corruption, probably had a good idea about some of it and chose to do nothing.  In fact, no one except her and her inner circle can say for sure that she didn't also profit personally from the fraud in the rice pledging scheme.  Her brother is alleged to have orchestrated the corrupt deals, using one rice trader who is also a fugitive from justice.  Thai authorities have made no efforts to try to find out whether she received any inexplicable payments in her offshore bank accounts, which could have been a share of commission payments.   

                

Off course you have all the evidences which you will turn over to the authority. 

[webfact]

Tearful former Thai PM Yingluck says she was never dishonest

By Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panu Wongcha-um

 

Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand, August 1, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra delivered a tearful closing statement to a Bangkok court on Tuesday, saying she did not act dishonestly in a multi-billion dollar rice subsidy scheme and that she was being politically persecuted.

 

Yingluck argued the rice scheme, which backfired costing Thailand $8 billion, benefited average Thais. The scheme appealed to agricultural voters, who make up nearly 40 percent of the labour force, and are the backbone of Yingluck's party.

 

"The rice policy has been proven to benefit the economy at the grass roots level and nationwide. It did not cause losses. Which is why I intended to make this rice scheme work," Yingluck told the court.

 

"The rice scheme was honest and correct," she added.

 

If convicted of negligence, Yingluck faces 10 years in jail.

 

Yingluck was ousted in a May 2014 coup and banned from politics for five years in 2015 but remains a figurehead of the populist movement that has won every Thai election since 2001.

 

The case against her is the latest twist in a chapter of political infighting that has pitted Yingluck and her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, against members of the Bangkok-based, military-backed establishment.

 

After being ousted in 2006, Thaksin fled Thailand to avoid a 2008 jail term for corruption. He has lived abroad since, but retains a strong influence over Thai politics.

 

A tearful Yingluck told the court she was the victim of political persecution.

 

"I never omitted to perform my duty ... or performed my duty dishonestly. I know that I am the victim of a deep political game," she said.

 

Yingluck called for justice as she arrived at the Supreme Court where more than 1,000 supporters had gathered, in defiance of a government warning not to congregate en masse and as 300 police officers stood guard. As she entered the court her supporters shouted: "Fight! Fight!".

 

Outside the court Ladda Boonma, 67, from Nakhon Sawan province, north of Bangkok, said she came to support the former prime minister because she had been "kind to the poor".

 

"I came here to show my support to Prime Minister Yingluck because she has been kind to the poor and to farmers. Why is helping farmers wrong?"

 

In 2011 Yingluck sailed to victory in a general election and introduced a scheme to buy rice above market prices from farmers, her core constituents, store it and resell it later at a higher price.

 

But the scheme backfired and caused Thailand to lose its crown as the world's largest exporter of the grain.

 

Thailand also ended up with 18 million tonnes of rice in stock piles which the military government has auctioned off since it took power in 2014.

 

Last week, the government said it had frozen assets belonging to Yingluck, including bank accounts and dozens of properties in relation to a separate, administrative order by the state to claim back money lost from the rice scheme.

 

A new bill passed by the National Legislative Assembly on July 13 allows Yingluck to lodge an appeal without the need to submit new evidence if she is found guilty on Aug. 25, when the court is scheduled to rule in the case.

 

(Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panu Wongcha-um; Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-01

[webfact]

Yingkuck calls on Supreme Court to consider facts and vindicate her 

By Kasamakorn Chanwanpen 
The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in her closing statement in her negligence trial on Tuesday, pleaded with the Supreme Court to make its ruling based on legitimate evidence and witness testimonies.

 

She also urged the court to base it ruling on the law and to not take into consideration outside influences, including Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s recent remarks on the case.

 

She said Prayut’s comments were misleading and he suggested a crime had been committed, even though there had not been a verdict in the case.

 

Citing the saying that “the court is the final refuge of the people”, Yingluck pleaded with the court to have mercy and dismiss the case.

 

In 2014 Yingluck was accused by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) of dereliction of duty for failing to prevent corruption in the controversial rice-pledging scheme, declared as her then-government's prime policy.

The trial against her started in January last year and extended to last month, before Yingluck’s closing statement.

The court is due to make its ruling on August 25.

 

In a firm voice, Yingluck defended herself, citing six major points.

 

She said she had been unfairly accused by the NACC, with questionable investigation proceedings used against her.

 

She questioned the indictment process used by prosecutors against her, saying there was incomplete evidence while an additional piece of evidence was added later.

 

She stressed that she had not been negligent in preventing corruption. 

 

It was impossible for the PM alone to stop the scheme, which was a policy presented in the Parliament, she said.

Yingluck said the scheme did not cause damage, but had in fact helped the economy.

 

She insisted that she had not violated Article 157 of the Criminal Code and as such had not been negligent.

 

She said she had listened to anti-corruption agencies including the NACC, which had warned her about the project, even though the law did not oblige her to do so.

 

Yingluck said she had to implement the scheme and no government agencies had proposed its suspension.

She said as the then prime minister she had nothing to do with government-to-government rice deals.

 

Yingluck was on the verge of tears in the latter part of her statement, when she said she was proud to have pushed the policy for farmers, saying it enabled them to have a better life and give opportunities for their children to pursue education, although it has brought her great pain as she has had to fight this case.

 

The courtroom was filled with key members of the Pheu Thai Party such as Chaturon Chaisang, Pichai Nariptapan, Phumtham Wechayachai and Watana Muangsook, as well as red-shirt leaders such as Nattawut Saikua and Thida Tojirakarn.

 

The court again rejected Yingluck's request to have the Constitutional Court rule on her arguments in the case as allowed by the new charter. 

 

YIngluck previously asked the court to consider forwarding the case to the Constitution Court to rule on whether legal proceedings under the existing 1999 legal procedures against political holders in criminal cases could apply in her case.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30322450

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-01

[binjalin]

5 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Sadly the farmers that hung themselves or died choking on self-administered weed killer, due to the failure of the rice pledging scheme, were not outside the court cheering her and I doubt, if their surviving family members are either.  Thaksin was in such a rush to get his minions to dissolve parliament, imagining his sister returning to power with a large majority, that they pulled the plug without giving Kittirat as Finance Minister time to  draft and issue a Royal Decree to provide funding to the BAAC to complete the payments for rice that had already been delivered.  Meanwhile, the government had made sure that the bandits involved in the fake rice export deals were paid in full with the farmers' money.  This rice was actually re-pledged to the government a second time and the crooks, who allegedly colluded with Thaksin made off with around 6 billion baht.

 

By all accounts the thinking was that Thaksin and his cronies were going to corner the rice global rice market, push prices up and profit immensely from controlling Thailand's entire rice stock.  The plan flopped because they didn't anticipate that India would have a bumper crop and start exporting which suddenly made Thailand a weak player in the global market and forced prices down.  But not to worry, the fall back plan worked well, pretending to export pledged rice at depressed global prices but actually fraudulently pledging it again at the guaranteed price, thereby making the difference between the global price and the artificial pledged price and stuffing the rice pledging scheme with two rounds of losses on the same rice.  That is not to mention the large quantities of rice that were imported from Laos and Cambodia and pledged to the government.      

 

I am sure that none of this was as a result of her planning because she was only a figurehead who didn't plan anything or even have much clue what was going on.  Nevertheless, she was in a position to prevent the corruption, probably had a good idea about some of it and chose to do nothing.  In fact, no one except her and her inner circle can say for sure that she didn't also profit personally from the fraud in the rice pledging scheme.  Her brother is alleged to have orchestrated the corrupt deals, using one rice trader who is also a fugitive from justice.  Thai authorities have made no efforts to try to find out whether she received any inexplicable payments in her offshore bank accounts, which could have been a share of commission payments.   

                

Nonsense post based on conjecture and wishful thinking with NO evidence and is actually defamatory. They did bet on world prices and got it very wrong and it was a mistake but I do not believe that was intentional and subsidies happen in each and every country in the world (as do suicides).

[binjalin]

4 minutes ago, webfact said:

Tearful former Thai PM Yingluck says she was never dishonest

By Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panu Wongcha-um

 

Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand, August 1, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra delivered a tearful closing statement to a Bangkok court on Tuesday, saying she did not act dishonestly in a multi-billion dollar rice subsidy scheme and that she was being politically persecuted.

 

Yingluck argued the rice scheme, which backfired costing Thailand $8 billion, benefited average Thais. The scheme appealed to agricultural voters, who make up nearly 40 percent of the labour force, and are the backbone of Yingluck's party.

 

"The rice policy has been proven to benefit the economy at the grass roots level and nationwide. It did not cause losses. Which is why I intended to make this rice scheme work," Yingluck told the court.

 

"The rice scheme was honest and correct," she added.

 

If convicted of negligence, Yingluck faces 10 years in jail.

 

Yingluck was ousted in a May 2014 coup and banned from politics for five years in 2015 but remains a figurehead of the populist movement that has won every Thai election since 2001.

 

The case against her is the latest twist in a chapter of political infighting that has pitted Yingluck and her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, against members of the Bangkok-based, military-backed establishment.

 

After being ousted in 2006, Thaksin fled Thailand to avoid a 2008 jail term for corruption. He has lived abroad since, but retains a strong influence over Thai politics.

 

A tearful Yingluck told the court she was the victim of political persecution.

 

"I never omitted to perform my duty ... or performed my duty dishonestly. I know that I am the victim of a deep political game," she said.

 

Yingluck called for justice as she arrived at the Supreme Court where more than 1,000 supporters had gathered, in defiance of a government warning not to congregate en masse and as 300 police officers stood guard. As she entered the court her supporters shouted: "Fight! Fight!".

 

Outside the court Ladda Boonma, 67, from Nakhon Sawan province, north of Bangkok, said she came to support the former prime minister because she had been "kind to the poor".

 

"I came here to show my support to Prime Minister Yingluck because she has been kind to the poor and to farmers. Why is helping farmers wrong?"

 

In 2011 Yingluck sailed to victory in a general election and introduced a scheme to buy rice above market prices from farmers, her core constituents, store it and resell it later at a higher price.

 

But the scheme backfired and caused Thailand to lose its crown as the world's largest exporter of the grain.

 

Thailand also ended up with 18 million tonnes of rice in stock piles which the military government has auctioned off since it took power in 2014.

 

Last week, the government said it had frozen assets belonging to Yingluck, including bank accounts and dozens of properties in relation to a separate, administrative order by the state to claim back money lost from the rice scheme.

 

A new bill passed by the National Legislative Assembly on July 13 allows Yingluck to lodge an appeal without the need to submit new evidence if she is found guilty on Aug. 25, when the court is scheduled to rule in the case.

 

(Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Panu Wongcha-um; Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-01

Political as plain as can be.

[Dogmatix]

Just now, Eric Loh said:

Off course you have all the evidences which you will turn over to the authority. 

I said it was unknown whether there was evidence re Yingluck's active involvement or not and that the authorities, who were in a position to look for it, had not.

[stephen tracy]

3 hours ago, halloween said:

I am always honest and have never denied I believe the Shinawatra clan to be a parasite on the Thai nation.

 

Now tell me why you ignore and offer excuses for blatant criminal actions?

Because criminals have no right to prosecute fellow criminals.  Total pathological hatred of all things Shin. You're not even Thai!  You have proven time and time again that you have lost your sovereignty of reason when it comes to this topic.  YOu have also demonstrated  - along with the other junta-huggers - that you fail to see the difference between someone criticizing the junta and a red-shirt/Thaksin supporter.  The two do not necessarily go hand in hand.  It is actually possible  - believe or not - to view both as a danger to the future of the country. 

[binjalin]

5 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

I said it was unknown whether there was evidence re Yingluck's active involvement or not and that the authorities, who were in a position to look for it, had not.

There was no conspiracy but thanks for at least acknowledging there is NO evidence. So it's a theory (which you are entitled to raise).

[Dogmatix]

4 minutes ago, binjalin said:

Nonsense post based on conjecture and wishful thinking with NO evidence and is actually defamatory. They did bet on world prices and got it very wrong and it was a mistake but I do not believe that was intentional and subsidies happen in each and every country in the world (as do suicides).

 

The dissolution of Parliament that took place without giving time to Kittirak to enact emergency legislation to fund the rice that had already been pledged is fact.  Kittirat himself said this was the case.  It is also fact that farmers committed suicide because of this oversight.  They had grown jasmine rice on all their land because it paid the best pledging price and pledged all, without holding back any for their families to eat, with the intention of buying cheaper stick rice and other types to eat with the pledging money. That is indisputable.  

 

Regarding the fraudulent rice sales, if you run the numbers, my estimate is based on the difference between the global price that the fake exports were booked at and the pledging price they were actually alleged to be sold back to the government at.  We will see on 25 Aug whether Boonsong, Phum et al are judged guilty of approving this scam but they are not charged with carrying out the scam themselves.  A well known rice trader with close links to Thaksin, who is connected to the allegedly fraudulent sales is on the run.  If the fraud is actually judged to have taken place, Thaksin may or may not have been involved but Bonsoong, Phum et al are only accused of taking modest payments for their signatures and someone very high up in the government or with the ability to control it must have orchestrated it.  You can form your own conjectures.

The plan to corner the global rice market and force prices up (thereby callously causing myriad deaths by starvation amongst the world's most vulnerable people) is not a secret. It was publicly discussed by Thaksin.  Of course, it is possible that he had no intention of profiting personally, if it had worked but.....