Black-clad Yingluck cuts a relaxed figure at Supreme Court

[zaphod reborn]

In the end, if you think that Yingluck had any defense, other than to cry, you are delusional.

[Dogmatix]

Personally I don't care whether Yingluck goes to jail or not.  I think she was guilty of dereliction of duty because she was warned about the widespread fraud in the scheme and did nothing to try to stop it.  However, she was only a patsy for the real criminals.  I don't think putting her in prison will do much to reduce corruption because most can see that she is a just symbol and that nothing is being done to bring the real criminals to justice or even to prosecute cases that are handed to the government on a plate like the Rolls Royce bribes paid to THAI and PTT.  

 

No one who aspires to have power in Thailand wants to take away the gravy train. I have come across Thais who quite readily admit to having US$100 million plus stashed in offshore accounts as a result of corruption by fathers, grandfathers etc. 

[Dogmatix]

Surprised to see Thida Tojirakarn outside the court.  She spent a relatively short time as nominal leader of red shirts and then quit after being seen driving around in a new Benz, despite any visible means of financial support.  Since then she virtually disappeared and the junta didn't even bother to summon her for attitude adjustment.  

 

Perhaps she is actually a decent person because she stopped the red shirts from cheering at a rally when the news was announced that the children of a couple selling noodles had been blown to pieces by a red shirt RPG at a PAD rally in Trat.    

[StefanBBK]

I never liked the rice scheme for its interference with the markets. Thought always it was a bit ambitious and not the right solution. 

I believe in holding governments accountable for their actions. A system of checks and balances needs to be put in place and the government needs to answer to the citizens. With proper safeguards in place it should have never been possible to run such a losing scheme. 

If the government was a corporation and Ms. Y the CEO, there would have been a board that oversees her performance and would have put a stop to it. Everyone has the right to do with their money as they please, but governments need to be controlled and only allowed to work within the approved budgets that must be constitution conform.

 

I don't think this trial is the right approach to reconciliation. 

[Dogmatix]

With all the excitement over the Yingluck case, don't forget to watch out for tomorrow's ruling on her brother-in-law's dereliction of duty case.  Somchai stands accused of failing to prevent the police from killing yellow shirt protestors outside Parliament in 2008 when he ordered police to disperse them.  The police shot them with explosive tear gas canisters that no one could remember having ordered from China.  It will be a tricky judgement because Pravit's younger brother, who was the Thaksin appointed police chief at the time is a co-accused, as is the dinosaur, Chavalit, who was in charge of security for the government.    

 

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[garvon]

One should put this in context where the losses from the rice scheme exceeded 500 billion baht. The whole nation is up in arms for a 13 billion baht submarine which is a drop in the bucket to Yingluk's rice losses. She may not have been part of it but as prime minister she certainly knew who was doing what and to whom. Guilty as charged.

[Dogmatix]

3 minutes ago, StefanBBK said:

I never liked the rice scheme for its interference with the markets. Thought always it was a bit ambitious and not the right solution. 

I believe in holding governments accountable for their actions. A system of checks and balances needs to be put in place and the government needs to answer to the citizens. With proper safeguards in place it should have never been possible to run such a losing scheme. 

If the government was a corporation and Ms. Y the CEO, there would have been a board that oversees her performance and would have put a stop to it. Everyone has the right to do with their money as they please, but governments need to be controlled and only allowed to work within the approved budgets that must be constitution conform.

 

I don't think this trial is the right approach to reconciliation. 

Right.  Thai farmers, unlike their Vietnamese counterparts, receive negligible help from the Agriculture Ministry in improving quality and yields. In fact the scheme encouraged the production of high volume of low quality rice.  The government conspires with the producers of petrochemical based pesticides and fertilisers to encourage farmers to become dependent on these dangerous products and outlaws the use of many organic substitutes.  In addition the scheme did nothing for the poorest farmers who didn't have any surplus rice to pledge, or even worse pledged all their rice and then received payment late.   

 

The trial is not intended to foster reconciliation which would be hard to achieve anyway without getting on track for another Pheua Thai government.  It is intended or at least hoped that it will vindicate the junta's position by demonstrating that they helped removing a criminal from office.  But there is no telling how it will go.

[Eric Loh]

http://m.thanhniennews.com/business/vietnams-rice-subsidies-benefit-foreign-consumers-not-local-producers-experts-33088.html

 

Vietnam received subsidies which hamper their productivity to higher quality rice. Vietnam too have their problems with rice subsidies. All rice producing counties have subsidies rice policy. India and China have almost USD30 B rice subsidies. Only in

Thailand, a rice policy has been incriminated. What about the past and current rice subsidy policies. Don't they also be incriminated? We have a 500 B fuel subsidies every year for as long as I remember and will continue. It is a government policy and the next government have all the right to cancel out this policy for their own. This is not about rice but about driving Yingluck out of politics and hopefully to exile. Glad she is staying to fight.

[halloween]

1 hour 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).

Yes they did bet on world prices and got it very wrong, and she is not charged with that. After B200 billion in losses she was warned by internal and external agencies, AND DID NOTHING. Which is negligence, as charged.

[thaisail]

Submarines?

[stephen tracy]

10 minutes ago, thaisail said:

Submarines?

And tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopters... but I guess they're gomna need those soon!

[wvavin]

If Yingluck is not a puppet PM, I am very certain she would be PM for a long time.

[yellowboat]

As much as her and her brother had failures, they were and are better for Thailand than the current regime.  Many people in Thailand feel that way, so unless they can find somebody who is as graceful as Yingluck,  nothing will change. The whole point of the coup and these trials are to marginalize the Shinawartes.  It does not look like it is working at all.  

Edited August 1, 2017 by yellowboat

[smedly]

57 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Right.  Thai farmers, unlike their Vietnamese counterparts, receive negligible help from the Agriculture Ministry in improving quality and yields. In fact the scheme encouraged the production of high volume of low quality rice.  The government conspires with the producers of petrochemical based pesticides and fertilisers to encourage farmers to become dependent on these dangerous products and outlaws the use of many organic substitutes.  In addition the scheme did nothing for the poorest farmers who didn't have any surplus rice to pledge, or even worse pledged all their rice and then received payment late.   

 

The trial is not intended to foster reconciliation which would be hard to achieve anyway without getting on track for another Pheua Thai government.  It is intended or at least hoped that it will vindicate the junta's position by demonstrating that they helped removing a criminal from office.  But there is no telling how it will go.

nice to hear from someone that actually has a clue and knows what they're on about

[Thailand]

She continues to stick it to them and they really don't know how to deal with it apart from threats and weapons on the streets to quell their own citizens.

[YetAnother]

Boy, is she losing her looks fast

[JRUSA]

5 hours ago, halloween said:

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?

I can see Trump in that role...but the he would file another bankruptcy..

[Baerboxer]

"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.

 

So, why did she never bother to attend any of the meetings she appointed herself to chair if she was so intent on making the scheme work?

 

If the scheme was honest and correct why have detailed audited financial management accounts ever been produced?

 

She states here that the were no losses, and she makes that statement under oath. How can she know that unless she has the accounts?

 

If convicted, wonder if she'll face an additional charge of perjury? Tharit won't be there this time to make it go away with a farcical new interpretation of perjury. And as she's the one on trial this time his last get out won't apply.

 

 

[Baerboxer]

36 minutes ago, Thailand said:

She continues to stick it to them and they really don't know how to deal with it apart from threats and weapons on the streets to quell their own citizens.

 

Yeah, great actress. Tears and the usual drivel delivered with aplomb. Gotta giver her that. 

[madusa]

Politicians everywhere behave like what quantum physicists said, : They changed when you are not looking at them, the physicists are referring to the sub atomic particles.

When the figure reach a certain level it would take an angel to not even consider the offer. Politicians aren't no angel, far from it.

[tifino]

Being photojournaled alongside that red rose in the OP pic, will cost her dearly

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, Eric Loh said:

http://m.thanhniennews.com/business/vietnams-rice-subsidies-benefit-foreign-consumers-not-local-producers-experts-33088.html

 

Vietnam received subsidies which hamper their productivity to higher quality rice. Vietnam too have their problems with rice subsidies. All rice producing counties have subsidies rice policy. India and China have almost USD30 B rice subsidies. Only in

Thailand, a rice policy has been incriminated. What about the past and current rice subsidy policies. Don't they also be incriminated? We have a 500 B fuel subsidies every year for as long as I remember and will continue. It is a government policy and the next government have all the right to cancel out this policy for their own. This is not about rice but about driving Yingluck out of politics and hopefully to exile. Glad she is staying to fight.

 

It's about driving another Shin, one who was prepared to be big brother's latest stooge, out of politics. And perhaps act as a warning to other family and close friends for future. 

 

She, or those advising/controlling her, put her in an indefensible position. She appointed herself to chair the scheme, the never bothered to do it; or to respond to the internal and external warnings. She repeatedly said she, and only she, was totally in charge.

 

Why they put her in such a position and then kept her away, is one of those mysteries we'll never know. Plausible deniability - yep, but wide open to negligence. But I guess they never dreamed they'd be out of power, thought they'd get Thaksin back and simply loose all this in the new 2.2 trillion baht loan pot.

 

Although she's an accomplished actress, and went willingly along with big brother, and certainly lied on many, many occasions to the public, you have to feel she's in an unenviable position due to big brother.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, yellowboat said:

As much as her and her brother had failures, they were and are better for Thailand than the current regime.  Many people in Thailand feel that way, so unless they can find somebody who is as graceful as Yingluck,  nothing will change. The whole point of the coup and these trials are to marginalize the Shinawartes.  It does not look like it is working at all.  

 

Your opinion of course. Thaksin still not got his whitewash and no longer controlling the trough; little sis on trial. Other family members and close supporters on or facing trials and some in prison.

 

The Shins would've ruined Thailand with their 2.2 trillion baht loan - which they wanted to manage away from parliament. No doubt with the same opaque clarity accounting they used in the rice scheme.

 

 

[stephen tracy]

20 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

"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.

 

So, why did she never bother to attend any of the meetings she appointed herself to chair if she was so intent on making the scheme work?

 

If the scheme was honest and correct why have detailed audited financial management accounts ever been produced?

 

She states here that the were no losses, and she makes that statement under oath. How can she know that unless she has the accounts?

 

If convicted, wonder if she'll face an additional charge of perjury? Tharit won't be there this time to make it go away with a farcical new interpretation of perjury. And as she's the one on trial this time his last get out won't apply.

 

 

This "trial" and all the other shenanigans has nothing to do with rice.  There is only one objective.

[Juan B Tong]

MEMO to Yingluck.

 

Please renew your valium prescription.

[sandemara]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

-- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra appeared on good spirit as she arrived at the Supreme Court

 - Vodka?  Whisky? Cointreau is my kind of good spirit.

[Baerboxer]

Just now, stephen tracy said:

This "trial" and all the other shenanigans has nothing to do with rice.  There is only one objective.

 

What do you think it should be then, is Yingluck a nice girl, good mum and produces tasty mushrooms?

 

Of course it's the game politicians play. She was part of a scheme that was created to buy votes, and also provide some nice earning opportunities for the "boys" as a thank you. Had everything gone according to plan, they'd have declared it a big success, but of course never revealed how much money and where it all went. When it went wrong they hoped to use some of the 2.2 trillion baht loan to cover it all up. She, or her controllers / advisers, exposed her by being to clever. She appointed herself as Chair, then buggered off and never chaired or attended any meetings. Now that may have been their idea to create plausible deniability. But someone forgot she was the self appointed chair, the one who repeatedly said she and only she was in charge.

 

She made the rod for her own back. And she hasn't offered any defense,  nor have her legal teams, because they haven't got one.

 

So she's been caught out in a self created check-mate.

[anto]

5 hours ago, hyku1147 said:

She is a hottie!

How come her brother is so ugly ? Anyway this is not about looks ,but people are influenced by looks .

[Guest Jerry787]

She Is guilty, her brother made the scheme and she kept it on with more politicians and ppl of  the shinnawatra party and clan getting fat , out of the scheme and millions of tons of rice was getting spoiled and the rice price in Thailand risen  out of mind due the scheme and all foreigners bulk buyers moved to other country ! 

 

The economic damage has  been immense, and several beer belly Falangs here doesn't even guess how much in figures, but they still approve her and  just type sentences after the 7th beer at 10:00am !  

 

She as any whatsoever corrupt politician of whatever party and or country deserve jail for what done ! 

Edited August 1, 2017 by Jerry787

[Tilacme]

6 hours ago, halloween said:

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.

Strikes me that you are trying to prove a negative with that comment.