Rice scheme officials risk court

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Rice scheme officials risk court

Judges to mull petition against pledging today

Published: 10 Oct 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Officials who implement the government's controversial rice pledging scheme could be damaging the country and risk being taken to court, a senior economist from the Thailand Development and Research Institute (TDRI) has warned.

Nipon Puapongsakorn, former president of the TDRI and now a distinguished fellow at the institute, compared the case to that of the former governor of the Bank of Thailand, Rerngchai Marakanond, who was fined 185.95 billion baht in 2005 for approving currency transactions that led to the loss of billions of baht in national reserves before the 1997 economic crisis.

The Appeal Court overturned the lower court ruling last year, though the central bank has since lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court.

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ricefield
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Discussion 27 : 10 Oct 2012 at 21.3527
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Discussion 19 - FYI the CC dropped the case. If the AG had of got it initially it would have had the same fate. It's about protocol not about the PTP.
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brilliant
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Discussion 26 : 10 Oct 2012 at 20.3726
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I'm sure the petition will be refiled with the necessary legal corrections and procedure. Thank God this wasn't the reds that had filed the petition as there would now be death threats, burned effigies and riots. Perhaps reds can take note that when a legal ruling doesn't go your way there are legal ways to deal with it and then the immature red way.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 25 : 10 Oct 2012 at 16.5225
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bluebkk D17

The present AG was appointed by the Democrat government, did they pick the wrong man?
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bluebottle
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Discussion 24 : 10 Oct 2012 at 14.5724
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Let us face facts some of the big growing organisations must be doing very nicely thank you from the scheme and we know some millers are but the little guy who the scheme was supposed to help appears to be loosing out. Among all this the government just plows on regardless.
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Eric
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Discussion 23 : 10 Oct 2012 at 14.4623
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When you don't get a verdict of your liking, the same old accusations will always surfaced. Blame the AG, DSI and possibly now the CC to be bias. Throw in vote buying if speaking about election. Then it's the Reds that ran in front of the bullets. Never rationale and always spinning.
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pjt
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Discussion 22 : 10 Oct 2012 at 12.5722
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D10@ricefield - enligthen me - where does it say that all petitions to the Constitutional court must go through the A-G office?
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spiceman
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Discussion 21 : 10 Oct 2012 at 12.5621
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I think the Court won't overstep its legal bound here. Sure, the rice pledging scheme is anti-free market, disrupting price mechanism, and most likely resulting in heavy financial losses for the taxpayers, however, in Democracy, the Majority rules within the Rules of Law. So, what the Court can do is to make sure that all necessary legal procedures are followed with no irregularities (corruptions). Only, after the heavy financial loss materializes as predicted, enough of those in the majority will be persuaded that the scheme is a really bad idea, and would not support it again in the future. If you want Democracy, this is IT!
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gleentea
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Discussion 20 : 10 Oct 2012 at 12.2520
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ricefield,

Your concern for the Constitutional Court's workload is admirable.
Any thoughts on the suspected massive graft in the rice pledging scheme and how it doesn't benefit farmers while causing damage to the country?
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sunshine51
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Discussion 19 : 10 Oct 2012 at 12.1119
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ricey, pls quit trying to convince us that the AG will ever take this PT government to court!!! That's the reason anyone taking action against PT has to go directly to the CC.
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bikeme
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Discussion 18 : 10 Oct 2012 at 11.5818
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D15 - Because the PTP have already admitted that telling white lies is OK when beneficial. So no one will believe the words that come out of their mouths if it is not backed up by facts & figures.

Ultimately how difficult is it for the PTP to produce numbers and dates of shipments, how difficult is it for them to produce copies of the agreements if shipping is future dated, how difficult is it to show the math (x tons sold x y baht per ton = z; z - scheme payments = loss or profit)?

The mere fact that they refuse to release facts & figures leads one to only one conclusion ... more white lies.
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Rice scheme officials risk court | Bangkok Post: news