Rice-pledging probes ‘40% complete’
More than 40 per cent of the investigation work in the nearly 1,000 cases involving alleged corruption in the Yingluck government’s rice-pledging scheme is completed, it has been claimed.
Prayong Preeyachit, secretary general of the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), said on Thursday that all the investigation were expected to be done in time by June.
Most of those found guilty so far were government officials at the operational level, on committees or involved in policy, he said.
They will subject to a disciplinary penalty and civil liability, he said.
The PACC has a name list of more than 20 per cent of the alleged culprits in the government sector, he added.
Prayong said for the private sector the main culprits in the corruption scandal were surveyors and rice mills.
The total financial damage liable to the state is as high as Bt115 billion, the PACC secretary general said, adding that responding to the issue is a challenge but the state has to take action to hold the culprits accountable.
Prayong said investigations of 986 graft cases concerning the government’s rice-pledging scheme were underway and mainly involved examining oral and document evidence.