Inspectors reveal tainted rice

Inspectors reveal tainted rice

1,792 damaged sacks found at warehouse

Some of the government’s rice stocks stored at a warehouse in Chachoengsao province have deteriorated significantly, inspectors say.

A worker carries a sack containing deteriorated rice during inspections carried out by a team of soldiers at a warehouse in Chachoengsao’s Phanom Sarakham district yesterday. Pattanapong Hirunard

A military team, led by deputy chief of the 111th infantry regiment Baromwit Varunprapa and a rice inspection team, yesterday inspected a warehouse in Chachoengsao’s Phanom Sarakham district and found some of the rice was badly damaged.

The warehouse was storing a total of 88,005 rice sacks purchased under the Yingluck Shinawatra government rice-pledging scheme.

Vasiva Sasisamit, Interior Ministry inspector-general and head of the inspection team, said samples of rice had been collected for testing prior to their visit. However, the inspection team was caught off guard when they saw the poor condition of rice being kept at the warehouse.

Col Boromwit, who unlocked the warehouse, said he had earlier sent his team to inspect the facility after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), ordered nationwide inspections of the government’s rice stocks.

An initial inspection found the rice being kept at the warehouse was partly damaged, said the deputy commander of the 111th infantry regiment.

He then locked all five gates of the warehouse to prevent the rice being moved out or the destruction of evidence pending another inspection.

The check by the rice inspection team found that some of the White Rice 25% contained in 1,792 sacks was either broken, powdery or infested with weevils.

The warehouse, one of the 16 largest that the 111th infantry regiment has been assigned to inspect, belongs to the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF), which rents the space for storage.

During the inspection, arguments erupted between rice surveyors and MOF staff members. The MOF claimed the rice has been stored at the warehouse since 2012, resulting in its poor condition.

The MOF staff tried to explain that pledged rice in good condition had earlier been sold. But the military team and rice surveyors were still unhappy about the quality of the rice they found. Many sacks were torn, they said. 

The rice inspectors will report the results to the national rice inspection team.

Mr Vasiva said sacks were not missing, but many at the warehouse were damaged. The military team will later check the number of damaged sacks.

Col Boromwit said the military found rice sacks collapsed in several parts of the warehouse, perhaps caused by the deterioration of the rice itself.

The 14-member national rice inspection team, made up of seven inspectors-general from the Interior Ministry and seven military officers, has been given two months to inspect rice stocks being kept at MOF warehouses across the country.

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra recently insisted she would not try to evade prosecution and flee into exile following the national anti-graft agency’s abrupt decision to indict her for failing to deal with corruption and losses in the rice-pledging scheme.

Ms Yingluck also lashed out at the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for treating her unfairly in its investigation against her.

NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljiak said his agency’s findings into the rice-pledging scheme would be submitted to the attorney-general next week.

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