Eight rice millers to face charges
Eight rice millers in Songkhla, Chainat, Pathum Thani and Phatthalung will face charges of embezzlement after police and officials last month jointly conducted inspection of their rice stockpiles as the government was hit with reports of a huge loss and r
Deputy National Police chief Pol General Worapong Chiewpreecha said police found improprieties at 27 rice millers after inspecting their rice inventories. Eight of them will face charges of embezzlement as their stockpiles did not match the quantity in the official reports.
Police will conduct additional checks at 11 rice millers in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Meanwhile, Democrat Party MP Ongart Klampaiboon criticised Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong for appointing a fact-finding panel to scrutinise Finance Ministry deputy permanent secretary Supa Piyajitti after she testified to the Senate committee about the possibilities of corruption in the rice-pledging scheme.
Ongart said Supa, who chairs the Finance Ministry’s Post Audit Committee on the rice-pledging scheme, had carried out her work in a straightforward manner by revealing the massive loss amounting to billions of baht from the scheme. The government’s order to probe her could be seen as an attempt to harass an honest official like her, he said.
Ongart also asked how the government was going to deal with the heavy loss of up to Bt269 billion, including interest, following its decision to immediately slash the rice-pledging price. He also queried how the government was going to manage rice inventories as it had not found a ready market because Thai rice was more expensive than rice from neighbouring countries. He expected more losses from the scheme because the longer the period the rice was kept in warehouses, the lower its quality.
He urged Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisal to reveal all information regarding the scheme – the rice stockpiles, the expenses incurred on the inventories and the prices at which they are sold.
