Boonsong and two colleagues impeached over 'fake' G2G deal
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NLA bans former commerce minister, his former deputy and ex-Foreign Trade chief from public office for five years
Members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted unanimously yesterday to impeach former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, his then-deputy Poom Sarapol and former director of the ministry’s Foreign Trade Department Manus Soiploy for their role in fabricating government-to-government (G2G) rice deals.
The three are now effectively banned from holding any positions in public office for the next five years.
With 190 NLA members present, 180 voted to impeach Boonsong and 182 to impeach Poom. These numbers were similar to the 190 votes cast to impeach former premier Yingluck Shinawatra.
Meanwhile, 158 members voted to impeach Manus.
The meeting, chaired by NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, kicked off at around 10am.
The prosecution was led by National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) member Vicha Mahakhun, who also led the impeachment proceedings against Yingluck.
In his opening remarks, Vicha said the claims of rice stockpiles being sold via G2G deals by the Yingluck-led administration were “total lies”.
The scheme, he said, played a key role in “one of the most scandalous corruption cases in Thai history”.
One of the key points of debate seems to be whether the two Chinese state enterprises, Kwang-Tung Stationary and Hai-Narn Grain and Oil Industrial Trading, were official representatives of the Chinese governments in the G2G deal.
Vicha alleged that the two firms were never officially authorised by the Beijing government to cut a deal with the Thai government. Instead, he said, it was a fake scheme created for Pheu Thai Party’s business allies to buy back rice from these two firms and make large profits.
However, Boonsong and Poom defended themselves by saying the fact that these two firms are state enterprises was enough for them to get involved in a “G2G deal”. They accused the NACC of practising “double standards” by rushing to an ill-judged conclusion derived from prejudice, bias and resentment against them and their political allies.
