People behind rice scheme will be sued to cover losses, Prayut says
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Puts damage at Bt680 billion, with figure rising by Bt2 billion a month
The government will take legal action against people deemed responsible for the Bt680 billion in estimated losses from the rice price-pledging scheme, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.
The PM said that even after the remaining 17 million tonnes of rice in the government stockpile were sold, losses would amount to some Bt680 billion.
“Legal action will be taken, particularly involving the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission. Both criminal and civil action will be taken, and compensation for damages will be sought,” Prayut said.
He said the Commerce Ministry would calculate the final amount of damages.
“We don’t know the exact figure now because the Commerce Ministry is [still] selling the rice in the government stock.”
The prime minister said that of the 17 million tonnes of rice remaining when the post-coup administration started, only 2.35 million were up to standard. About 700,000 tonnes was in a bad condition while the remainder was of poor quality.
Prayut spoke to the media after chairing a National Rice Policy Committee meeting.
He said the government would attempt to sell all rice in the stockpile within three years but he was concerned that many prospective buyers might not be interested.
He said the government was aware that expediting rice sales could lead to a price decrease.
The government is spending more than Bt2 billion a month renting warehouses to store rice bought under the scrapped pledging scheme, he said.
But the government would attempt to maintain Thailand’s status as the world’s No.1 rice exporter, following Vietnam’s announcement earlier this week of its plan to become the top exporter.
“We will not focus on quantity only – there must be quality too,” he said. “We aim to sell at high prices. All the parties involved must work together.”
Yesterday, Thailand and China signed a memorandum of understanding at Government House for the sale of two million tonnes of Thai rice to China.
Meanwhile, the National Anti-Corruption Commission is expected to decide early next year whether to pursue a case against former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom over alleged irregularities involving the sale of rice, NACC President Panthep Klanarongran said.
Panthep said he had urged the investigation committee, chaired by Vicha Mahakun, to expedite its work on the case so that a probe report can be completed before the year-end.
“But the NACC is unlikely to decide within this year. This case is likely to be forwarded to the NACC for a decision early next year,” he said.
In a related development, Democrat Party politician Warong Dechgitvigrom urged the government to review plans to sell rice from its stock in large lots.
He said that by selling rice of different quality together, prospective buyers would attempt to push down prices and corrupt officials would benefit from helping buyers prepared to pay bribes get rice at low prices.
