Rice scheme bill awaits Yingluck

Rice scheme bill awaits Yingluck

A Finance Ministry investigation panel has concluded that former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra was guilty of dereliction of duty in the rice pledging case, but would not reveal the extent of her financial culpability.

The fact-finding committee, chaired by Jirachai Moontongroy, reached its conclusion on Wednesday after an investigation that began in April last year.  

Mr Jirachai, a deputy permanent secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, said the probe looked into two issues: Ms Yingluck’s role in overseeing and monitoring her government’s rice-pledging scheme when she was prime minister and chair of the National Rice Policy Committee, and the estimated loss of 518 billion baht based on the closing of the programme’s accounts on May 22, 2014 when the military seized power.

Mr Jirachai said the panel agreed with the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s findings that Ms Yingluck was negligent in failing to stop corruption and losses in the rice scheme. 

He refused to reveal the financial compensation to be sought from Ms Yingluck, saying the figure would be sent to Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Once the committee's report is seen by the premier and Mr Apisak, it will be forwarded to another committee finalising the extent of compensation that Ms Yingluck and other alleged offenders must pay. The panel is chaired by the comptroller-general.

Mr Jirachai said three groups testified before the committee: bureaucrats from 15 agencies; eight individual accusers, including former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva; and 15 alleged offenders including Ms Yingluck.

In order to be fair to Ms Yingluck, Mr Jirachai said his panel used a different approach in calculating the damage incurred by the scheme than from that of the Finance Ministry subcommittee overseeing the scheme's accounting. He hinted that the figure decided by the panel was lower than that of the ministry’s subcommittee.

For example, the committee did not regard as a loss the 15,000 baht a tonne for white rice paid by her government, which was about 40% above market price at that time. That was because the farmers had received benefits. 

The committee also did not include the interest rate on loans to finance the rice scheme in its calculation of the loss as it was part of the national administration's policy to benefit the people and was not about trading. It did not take into account implementation of the rice policy by state agencies as damage because they were obliged to perform their official duties. 

Another fact-finding committee, overseen by the Commerce Ministry, has submitted to the comptroller-general panel the results of its investigation into the fake government-to-government rice sales involving former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and 20 other individuals and companies 

The panel expects to release its findings on compensation for losses from the bogus rice deals later this month. 

After the compensation order is made, Ms Yingluck and the others accused can counter sue the government through the Administrative Court within 30 days to try to get the order withdrawn.


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