Boonsong suffers the fate of the ‘hired gun’

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Boonsong suffers the fate of the ‘hired gun’

By The Nation

 

 

While Yingluck Shinawatra is now safely out of reach of Thai justice, her subordinates tumble into jail

Public and media attention over the past week has been riveted on former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s 

disappearing act and the matter of who should be blamed for her apparently easy escape from justice, as well as from the country. A politician of lesser importance appears to have been forgotten in the chatter, even though he is also a key defendant in a case that also stems from the Yingluck government’s rice-pledging scheme. 

 

Last Friday the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders found former Commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom guilty of malfeasance in his involvement in fraudulent deals to sell rice from Thai government stocks to Chinese companies claiming to represent the Chinese government. It was found that the foreign firms did not represent their government at all, and that the rice claimed to have been sold to China was never exported. Boonsong was sentenced to 42 years in jail.

 

Suranand Vejjajiva, his close friend and colleague in the Pheu Thai Party, wrote on Facebook that same day that, while most people would be focusing on Yingluck, he preferred to write about his friend Boonsong. Suranand offered Boonsong his sympathy while implying that the latter was maintaining some political secret. “In politics, some stories must ‘die with us’. We cannot talk about them. I understand this well and I sympathise with my friend, who is bound by that ‘condition’. I may be luckier than him in that I can still be myself, while my friend is not as lucky as I am.” 

 

Suranand said he’d occasionally met Boonsong while the latter was serving as Yingluck’s commerce 

minister and had noticed “signs of worry in his eyes”. He felt something was troubling his friend’s mind. He said he reminded Boonsong that they were both only “clerks” with no knowledge of the ins and outs of the stories behind the scenes. Suranand said that, after the 2014 military coup, he asked Boonsong to tell him “how the story goes”. Boonsong’s reply was, “I can’t talk about it.”

 

On the day the Supreme Court delivered the verdict against Boonsong and others in the same case, several hundred people were gathered outside. But most of them – if not all – were there to offer moral support to Yingluck, not Boonsong. They gathered at the court despite Yingluck urging them, in a Facebook post the night before, not to come. Boonsong was offered no such level of sympathy, and nor was his ex-deputy, Poom Sarapol, or other co-defendants in the case. All of them had been bureaucrats involved in the fake government-to-government rice sales and all received lengthy jail sentences for malfeasance.

 

This could be an example of the inequality that undermines Thai society, in which people of higher status tend to be given privileged treatment. More senior people often manage to get away with – or flee from – their wrongdoing, while their subordinates end up punished for the same crime. We often see political bigwigs opting to flee the country to escape the reach of the law, leaving their junior accomplices behind to face punishment. It’s just like in contract killings, where the hired guns are the ones arrested and punished, while the ones doing the hiring get away scot-free. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30325351

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-31

[ezzra]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

had noticed “signs of worry in his eyes”

Yeah worried he might get caught...

and While banking billions in his secret account no doubt...

see something? say something, that how honest people

behave....

[greenchair]

Let the punishment fit the crime. 

In my opinion this punishment went far beyond a reasonable fit of the crime. I'm not even sure if it was him involved, but just signed off on it, whilst his deputy was the main benefactor of the whole thing. It sounds more like a  warning to boonsong from suranand. A slight change would be... In politics some stories die with you. There are things You should not talk about , and you understand this well. I sympathise with you, but you are bound by this condition. A nice reminder of boonsong words "I can't talk about it "

Put together with a headline boonsong suffers the fate of the hired gun. 

Things are not always as they seem in Thailand. 

[craigt3365]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Suranand said that, after the 2014 military coup, he asked Boonsong to tell him “how the story goes”. Boonsong’s reply was, “I can’t talk about it.”

Sounds like something that would come from a member of the mafia.

 

Excellent article.

[IamNoone88]

There is no honesty amongst thieves.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

Sounds like something that would come from a member of the mafia.

 

Excellent article.

 

Absolutely my thoughts too Craig. That paragraph “In politics, some stories must ‘die with us’. We cannot talk about them. I understand this well and I sympathise with my friend, who is bound by that ‘condition’. I may be luckier than him in that I can still be myself, while my friend is not as lucky as I am.” seems to be like Omerta!

 

A timely reminder to keep quiet and take the medicine - or else.

 

And this comes out just as Boonsong starts an appeal against the sentence and the government encourage him to tell all he knows!

 

No wonder the bloke is worried! Caught between the devil and a hard rock.

[Cuchulainn]

Used and dumped by the Shinawatra clan? Never!!  They're in 5 star houses in Dubai. You're in jail. 

 

Next bunch of gullible fools and lambs, please.

[robblok]

1 hour ago, greenchair said:

Let the punishment fit the crime. 

In my opinion this punishment went far beyond a reasonable fit of the crime. I'm not even sure if it was him involved, but just signed off on it, whilst his deputy was the main benefactor of the whole thing. It sounds more like a  warning to boonsong from suranand. A slight change would be... In politics some stories die with you. There are things You should not talk about , and you understand this well. I sympathise with you, but you are bound by this condition. A nice reminder of boonsong words "I can't talk about it "

Put together with a headline boonsong suffers the fate of the hired gun. 

Things are not always as they seem in Thailand. 

No things are not always what they seem, a rice trader with close ties to Thaksin is one of the guys benefiting.. who says it was not an order of YL (or Thaksin more likely). But to testify against Thaksin is like signing your own death warrant. The guy is obviously scared to do so.. or he is just guilty.

 

30 billion corruption money.. id say that deserves a lot of jailtime. 

[robblok]

6 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Absolutely my thoughts too Craig. That paragraph “In politics, some stories must ‘die with us’. We cannot talk about them. I understand this well and I sympathise with my friend, who is bound by that ‘condition’. I may be luckier than him in that I can still be myself, while my friend is not as lucky as I am.” seems to be like Omerta!

 

A timely reminder to keep quiet and take the medicine - or else.

 

And this comes out just as Boonsong starts an appeal against the sentence and the government encourage him to tell all he knows!

 

No wonder the bloke is worried! Caught between the devil and a hard rock.

Jep.. just imagine... Thaksin wanted this deal (with the rice traders connected to Thaksin benefiting not such a strange idea). Just imagine Thaksin ordered YL to order Boonsong. Now we got a not innocent YL .. i doubt he would testify against her.. that is like signing your own death warrant. (though i think its more likely Thaksin himself commanded Boonsong). But either way it would look bad for the Shins and testifying against the Shins.. big health risk.

Edited August 31, 2017 by robblok

[Baerboxer]

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

Jep.. just imagine... Thaksin wanted this deal (with the rice traders connected to Thaksin benefiting not such a strange idea). Just imagine Thaksin ordered YL to order Boonsong. Now we got a not innocent YL .. i doubt he would testify against her.. that is like signing your own death warrant. (though i think its more likely Thaksin himself commanded Boonsong). But either way it would look bad for the Shins and testifying against the Shins.. big health risk.

 

Yep. The patriarch is like the godfather! Boonsong's patron (or matron) was the fat sister so orders might have been sent through her. But testifying against any Shin is a very dangerous prospect. He's now been warned by his "friend" just in case the prospect of a much reduced sentence for "co-operation" proved too attractive.

 

Rot in jail or be eliminated. And I don't think the witness protection program here is pristine!

 

Btw - have you noticed how all the Shin defenders and fans are avoiding this thread like the plague?

 

 

[ballpoint]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

He said he reminded Boonsong that they were both only “clerks” with no knowledge of the ins and outs of the stories behind the scenes.

That always works well when used as your main defence case...

[robblok]

12 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yep. The patriarch is like the godfather! Boonsong's patron (or matron) was the fat sister so orders might have been sent through her. But testifying against any Shin is a very dangerous prospect. He's now been warned by his "friend" just in case the prospect of a much reduced sentence for "co-operation" proved too attractive.

 

Rot in jail or be eliminated. And I don't think the witness protection program here is pristine!

 

Btw - have you noticed how all the Shin defenders and fans are avoiding this thread like the plague?

 

 

Yes I noticed, because admitting that the Boonsong case is valid is casting doubts on YL her innocence. I mean if your own ministers are committing wholesale corruption in a program you lead and have been warned about (including that the G2G deals were fake) and you did nothing dereliction of duty, negligence is not hard to prove). That is why i think the YL case will have a guilty verdict. Like an other article said, the judges don't check the merits of the rice program.. just if corruption was there and if enough was done to stop it. Nothing political or impeding a official from implementing a program.. its only about allowing the corruption in it to flourish even when warned multiple times. The discussion of the program if it was sound or not is an other one (I for one) many think it was not a sound program. But the judges are smart enough to avoid it and purely go for facts and criminal actions. Well done makes it so much harder to call this case political (not that the Shin defenders wont try)

 

 

[robblok]

10 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

That always works well when used as your main defence case...

Especially if your the commerce minister and above you is only the PM.. claiming ignorance is not a smart thing to do then.

[halloween]

2 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Sounds like something that would come from a member of the mafia.

 

Excellent article.

They have a word for it, omerta. I'm not sure if there is a Thai equivalent, my dictionary doesn't have it and the g/f app looks confused.

[Lemonltr]

The "Shin" family might well have been behind this scheme but EQUALLY might have not. It was arranged by a commerce minister and OTHERS to set up a fake transaction.

I am not saying it was not the PM but no proof so far of who.

The only sympathy I have for Boonsong is the length of the sentence.

Other than that as a high ranking minister he was well established as part of the despicable patronage system. He could have resigned and not taken part. 

I'm sure that as well as licking upwards he did his fair share of kicking down and sure he financially benefited.

Now what?  According to Thai practice he will be have found to have hung himself in his cell by his socks or maybe his spaghetti meal.

[ovi1kanobi]

2 hours ago, greenchair said:

Let the punishment fit the crime. 

In my opinion this punishment went far beyond a reasonable fit of the crime. I'm not even sure if it was him involved, but just signed off on it, whilst his deputy was the main benefactor of the whole thing. It sounds more like a  warning to boonsong from suranand. A slight change would be... In politics some stories die with you. There are things You should not talk about , and you understand this well. I sympathise with you, but you are bound by this condition. A nice reminder of boonsong words "I can't talk about it "

Put together with a headline boonsong suffers the fate of the hired gun. 

Things are not always as they seem in Thailand. 

Dont do the crime, If you cant do the time.....And dont drop the soap!  He got what he deserved. LOL

[ovi1kanobi]

34 minutes ago, Lemonltr said:

The "Shin" family might well have been behind this scheme but EQUALLY might have not. It was arranged by a commerce minister and OTHERS to set up a fake transaction.

I am not saying it was not the PM but no proof so far of who.

The only sympathy I have for Boonsong is the length of the sentence.

Other than that as a high ranking minister he was well established as part of the despicable patronage system. He could have resigned and not taken part. 

I'm sure that as well as licking upwards he did his fair share of kicking down and sure he financially benefited.

Now what?  According to Thai practice he will be have found to have hung himself in his cell by his socks or maybe his spaghetti meal.

These were Thaksins plans To ruin Thailands economy. While filling his bank accounts. Payback to the thai people. For being banned from his homeland. If he cant have Thailand no one will.

[Siripon]

The alleged boss of Boonsong is  neither Yingluck nor Thaksin. Rather, it is rumoured to be someone between them.

[Lemonltr]

37 minutes ago, ovi1kanobi said:

These were Thaksins plans To ruin Thailands economy. While filling his bank accounts. Payback to the thai people. For being banned from his homeland. If he cant have Thailand no one will.

Straight from the horses mouth...so you say.

[than]

2 hours ago, robblok said:

Jep.. just imagine... Thaksin wanted this deal (with the rice traders connected to Thaksin benefiting not such a strange idea). Just imagine Thaksin ordered YL to order Boonsong. Now we got a not innocent YL .. i doubt he would testify against her.. that is like signing your own death warrant. (though i think its more likely Thaksin himself commanded Boonsong). But either way it would look bad for the Shins and testifying against the Shins.. big health risk.

 

It's not secret that the scandalous rice pledging scheme was made in favor of Thaksin proxy. Only the large landowners or farmers who have many agricultural land have benefited from the largesse of this program. The majority of poor farmers who did not have sufficient land were excluded from the program....

 

Quote

it found that the farmers who would receive the most benefit from the scheme would be high to moderate-income farmers (around 1.185 million households), because they are capable of cultivating considerable amounts of rice for the purpose of selling their product to the government. In contrast, low-income farmers possess only the ability to cultivate rice for consumption by their own households. Thus, they would not have enough rice to enter into the rice pledging scheme. Furthermore, THAI PBS found that only 8% of farmers would benefit from this scheme.

(Global Legal Monitor)

the only chance for Boonsong to save his head is to become state witness  and testify against those they have cowardly abandon him

[VocalNeal]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

and that the rice claimed to have been sold to China was never exported.

...and yet I met a guy who said he was sat on a flight to Dubai next to a guy who told him he was going to Dubai to negotiate a $300m rice purchase

[Jonnapat]

I've read all the posts so far but in my opinion 42 years does not fit this crime.

Yes he did wrong but was no doubt applying the policies of the Shinawatra clan .

Many people have committed far worse crimes and received much more lenient sentencing.

He has to take the rap for all the others involved in this fated scheme. 

[Squeegee]

Aww, how cute: a thread that supporters of oppressive authoritarian governments can come and feel safe together.

 

How lovely.

[robblok]

6 minutes ago, Squeegee said:

Aww, how cute: a thread that supporters of oppressive authoritarian governments can come and feel safe together.

 

How lovely.

You could try to dispute the facts of the thread.. but I know how much those on the red side hate facts.

[Squeegee]

On 8/31/2017 at 2:06 PM, robblok said:

You could try to dispute the facts of the thread.. but I know how much those on the red side hate facts.

 

I don't dispute "facts" with stupid people. Precisely because you are disrespectful of others to say "on the red side" marks you as unworthy of a reasonable debate. You deserve ridicule.

[473geo]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 6:06 AM, than said:

 

It's not secret that the scandalous rice pledging scheme was made in favor of Thaksin proxy. Only the large landowners or farmers who have many agricultural land have benefited from the largesse of this program. The majority of poor farmers who did not have sufficient land were excluded from the program....

You need to study the BAAC supply chain, and the price per kg they were paying for rice, during the scheme, to the smaller farmers

[473geo]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 8:06 AM, robblok said:

You could try to dispute the facts of the thread.. but I know how much those on the red side hate facts.

You may wish to check the dictionary it will be of benefit if you look up

'Fact'

'Conjecture'

[Reigntax]

On Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 0:13 PM, robblok said:

Yes I noticed, because admitting that the Boonsong case is valid is casting doubts on YL her innocence. I mean if your own ministers are committing wholesale corruption in a program you lead and have been warned about (including that the G2G deals were fake) and you did nothing dereliction of duty, negligence is not hard to prove). That is why i think the YL case will have a guilty verdict. Like an other article said, the judges don't check the merits of the rice program.. just if corruption was there and if enough was done to stop it. Nothing political or impeding a official from implementing a program.. its only about allowing the corruption in it to flourish even when warned multiple times. The discussion of the program if it was sound or not is an other one (I for one) many think it was not a sound program. But the judges are smart enough to avoid it and purely go for facts and criminal actions. Well done makes it so much harder to call this case political (not that the Shin defenders wont try)

 

 

 

So if military subordinates are bashing trainees to death in the barracks and the PM knew about it because it has happened before, by your logic the PM should be held fully accountable for the murders.

 

Or the road carnage kills 10's of thousandss per year. Unlicenced drivers, unregistered cars, incompetent police . The PM is in charge, is aware of the situation but nothing has been done. Shouldnt he then with charged with dereliction of duty?

 

But i have yet to see you call for the PM to be charged. How could that be?

[bdenner]

On 8/31/2017 at 7:28 AM, greenchair said:

Let the punishment fit the crime. 

In my opinion this punishment went far beyond a reasonable fit of the crime. I'm not even sure if it was him involved, but just signed off on it, whilst his deputy was the main benefactor of the whole thing. It sounds more like a  warning to boonsong from suranand. A slight change would be... In politics some stories die with you. There are things You should not talk about , and you understand this well. I sympathise with you, but you are bound by this condition. A nice reminder of boonsong words "I can't talk about it "

Put together with a headline boonsong suffers the fate of the hired gun. 

Things are not always as they seem in Thailand. 

And the speculation by the brainwashed, disillusioned Farang, polluting this site with their ill informed rhetoric does nothing to enhance our image!

 

To them I say "Show me proof where Boonsong made financial gain from this fiasco". IMHO he was a pawn in a poorly orchestrated but well intentioned plan that went badly wrong. The attempted recovery process was a disaster BUT -- NOT deserving 42 Years jail. That is a bloody joke!

[stephen tracy]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 9:13 AM, robblok said:

Yes I noticed, because admitting that the Boonsong case is valid is casting doubts on YL her innocence. I mean if your own ministers are committing wholesale corruption in a program you lead and have been warned about (including that the G2G deals were fake) and you did nothing dereliction of duty, negligence is not hard to prove). That is why i think the YL case will have a guilty verdict. Like an other article said, the judges don't check the merits of the rice program.. just if corruption was there and if enough was done to stop it. Nothing political or impeding a official from implementing a program.. its only about allowing the corruption in it to flourish even when warned multiple times. The discussion of the program if it was sound or not is an other one (I for one) many think it was not a sound program. But the judges are smart enough to avoid it and purely go for facts and criminal actions. Well done makes it so much harder to call this case political (not that the Shin defenders wont try)

 

 

The vast majority of people you call "Shin defenders" couldn't give a toss about the Shins, they are just opposed to the junta.  It is clear that you will never be able to make the mental leap to understand that.  It is actually possible to be opposed to both.  I am aware that this information will be a little to much for you to digest.