The Commerce Ministry has asked the Legal Execution Department to collect 20 billion baht from a former commerce minister, his deputy and four top commerce officials involved in allegedly bogus government-to-government rice deals.
Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the ministry's Foreign Trade Department, said on Monday that her department had sent the letter to the Legal Execution Department to demand the compensation for losses resulting from four G2G rice sale contracts covering 6.2 million tonnes of rice.
The letter seeking the execution followed a second letter earlier sent to the six people, demanding the compensation from them, she said.
The ministry has followed the steps required for the action to reclaim the losses through the administrative action. After the first administrative order, authorities waited 30 days for their payments. Since no payments were made, the second letter was sent to them and the authorities waited another 15 days for them to act. Now the case has reached the Legal Execution Department to enforce the payments.
At this stage, the accused may seek the Administrative Court's injunction to stop the process and prevent their assets from being seized but to date none of them has done so.
"The matter takes times, but the Commerce Ministry has done what's required.
"The Legal Execution Department will now look for their assets, which will also take time. If the court grants them an injunction, the procedures will be suspended and the court will take over the issue," Mrs Duangporn said.
The six are former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, his former deputy Poom Sarapol, ex-secretary to the former commerce minister Weerawut Wajanaphukka, former Department of Foreign Trade (DFT) director-general Manas Soiploy, former deputy DFT chief Tikhumporn Natvaratat, and former foreign rice trade director Akharaphong Teepwachara.
Of the 20 billion baht in compensation, Mr Boonsong is required to pay 1.77 billion baht and Mr Poom Sarapol has to pay 2.3 billion baht. The four others are required to pay 4 billion baht each.
They handled the rice sale contracts during the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
Mr Boonsong, along with 20 other individuals and companies, are already on trial in the Supreme Court over the G2G rice deals with two Chinese trading companies: Guangdong Stationery and Sporting Goods Import and Export, and Hainan Grain and Oil Industrial Trading Co.
The suit was filed after the National Anti-Corruption Commission found the foreign companies were not authorised by Beijing to make the deals.
Some local rice traders were allegedly actual beneficiaries. The rice under the G2G deals came from the grain the government collected under Ms Yingluck's rice-pledging scheme.
In September, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha invoked Section 44 of the interim constitution to give immunity to legal execution officials in handling demands for compensation for losses incurred by the Yingluck administration's rice-pledging scheme.
The government also ordered Ms Yingluck to pay 35.7 billion baht in compensation for her failure to stop the loss-ridden pledging scheme.
The Yingluck government launched the scheme in October 2011 to fulfil her Pheu Thai Party's election promise to farmers who are the party's voting base. The pledging prices was set at 40-50% higher than the market prices.