Govt urged to sue over losses from rice scheme
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FORMER Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom yesterday urged Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam to file a civil suit over the Bt600-billion damage incurred from the rice pledging scheme.
He dismissed Wissanu’s reason – that the court fees for this case would amount to billions of baht – as unjustified.
Warong said nobody would take Wissanu to task for filing the civil suit because it would set the norm for future governments with policies that cause damage to taxpayers.
Warong also responded to Pheu Thai Party deputy spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard’s comment that 5.8 million tonnes of degraded rice stored under the rice-pledging scheme should be made into noodle flour and not ethanol.
He said the politician did not realise that degraded rice was not edible as it could make people ill.
He said the government must be decisive in tackling the price of rice, because the storage of so much rice has caused the price to hover at Bt8,400-Bt8,500 per tonne not higher.
“If the government does not manage this rice in a timely manner, the rice market will be destroyed,” he warned.
“This degraded rice must not reach the hands of rice millers. If the government cannot control the stockpiles, it should allow bidding for all business operators to auction the degraded rice and let the market mechanism work.”
