An investigation revealed that 13,000 tonnes of tapioca pellets delivered by cassava farmers under the previous government's farm produce-pledging scheme had disappeared from a warehouse in Ayutthaya province, a senior Department of Special Investigation (DSI) official said on Thursday.
The empty Kasetphuepol warehouse that was supposed to hold 13,000 tonnes of tapioca chips in Ayutthaya's Wang Noi district (Photo Sunthorn Pongpao).
Pol Lt Col Kornvach Panprapakorn, chief of the DSI's Special Cases Office, said the warehouse owned by Ruam Thun Pattana Rice Mill Ltd Partnership in tambon Sanabthuep in Ayutthaya's Wang Noi district was leased by Kasetphuetpol Intertrade Co to store sacks of pledged tapioca.
Kasetphuetpol was granted a concession by the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) to take part in the government's tapioca-pledging scheme for the 2011-2012 crop year. It rented the warehouse in Ayutthaya to store 13,000 tonnes of pledged tapioca.
Acting on reports of alleged irregularities, DSI officials on Thursday examined the warehouse, and found it empty with no sign of the tapioca.
Pol Lt Col Kornvach said Kasetphuetpol Intertrade Co had moved the tapioca to another storage facility said to be in Ayutthaya's Tha Rua district.
Winai Nanthakangwan, the owner of the warehouse, insisted he had no part in it, and had in fact suffered a loss of about 10 million because he had never been paid the rent.
He said he had earlier lodged a complaint against Kasetphuetpol Intertrade Co with the government and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
Pol Lt Col Kornvach said the DSI had earlier found that the company had similarly removed part or all of the pledged tapioca from other warehouses it had rented in Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi, Lop Buri, Saraburi and Ayutthaya provinces.