The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has urged police to step up efforts to apprehend members of a network that allegedly stole more than 100,000 sacks of rice from a warehouse storing pledged paddy in Pathum Thani's Muang district.
PACC secretary-general Prayong Preeyajit, in white shirt, stands in front of scaffolding which was believed placed there to hide the fact that rice sacks were missing during an inspection of Phoenix Agritec (Thailand) Co's warehouse in Pathum Thani's Muang district yesterday. More than 100,000 sacks of pledged rice have been reported missing from the facility from October last year to June this year. Tawatchai Kemgumnerd
Speaking during an inspection of a Phoenix Agritec (Thailand) Co rice warehouse in tambon Bangkadi yesterday, PACC secretary-general Prayong Preeyajit said 108,480 rice sacks were missing from the facility and lawsuits have been filed against 14 people.
He was accompanied yesterday by Pol Lt Col Pong-in Intharakhao, head of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) section handling security cases, Anti-Money Laundering Office representatives and army officers.
The group, which collectively makes up the National Anti-Corruption Centre, decided to go to Phoenix Agritec (Thailand) Co's rice warehouse first because it had the largest amount of rice missing, Mr Prayong said.
Charges have yet to be filed against state officials, Mr Prayong said.
It is hard to believe that officials assigned to monitor the pledged rice at the facility were unaware that 100,000 rice sacks were missing, he added.
Police handling the case have been told to quickly catch all those involved in the thefts because more people in this network are still at large, he said.
The warehouse had been used to store 162,000 sacks of pledged rice since March 26 last year.
Officers at Pak Khlong Rangsit police station were first alerted to the disappearance of 7,000 rice sacks in October last year, and six people have been charged, Mr Prayong said.
Another alleged theft occurred on Nov 12, last year, when 11,480 rice sacks were reported missing, he said, adding that five people have been charged in this case, while two suspects remain at large.
Another 90,000 sacks of rice were reported missing on June 27 this year, and charges were filed against three suspects, one of whom is still on the run.
Speaking about yesterday's inspection, Mr Prayong said most of the stockpile looked to have gone bad with some sacks containing crumbled rice-like powder.
Seven rice sack piles were placed to hide scaffolding which was put there to cover up the disappearance of two other piles.
The National Anti-Corruption Centre is to inspect 176 other warehouses around the country reported to have rice missing, Mr Prayong said.
A source connected with the investigation said the DSI and PACC suspect the missing rice in fact had never been stored at the facility.
No rice had been seen leaving the warehouse when officers reviewed CCTV footage, the source said.
Warehouse officials said they received rice by checking documents without counting the number of sacks, the source said.
They said the warehouse owners then locked the facility, which prevented them from re-checking the number of rice sacks inside.