Rice depreciation costs 'hit B34bn'

Rice depreciation costs 'hit B34bn'

Pledging scheme akin to 'ticking time bomb'

Ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra drew the usual crowd of well-wishers and media Wednesday at the Supreme Court, where her malfeasance trial continued. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
Ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra drew the usual crowd of well-wishers and media Wednesday at the Supreme Court, where her malfeasance trial continued. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

An auditor has confirmed some of the rice stockpiles pledged under Yingluck Shinawatra's government disappeared while the depreciation cost of the grain rose, based on the programme's closure of accounts last year. 

Nangnoi Charoenthaveesub, chairwoman of the Auditing Committee under the Federation of Accounting Professions, was speaking during the second day of hearings Wednesday in which Ms Yingluck is charged with dereliction of duty in the rice-pledging scheme. Ms Nangnoi served as a prosecution witness. 

Citing the programme's accounts which were concluded on Sept 30 last year, Ms Nangnoi said the record shows rice was lost.

The depreciation expense of the stored rice increased 34 billion baht from the previous accounts which closed in May the same year. The figure was drawn from more than 1,100 samples of rice found to have been degraded. 

She said accounting of the rice-pledging programmes under the Yingluck administration failed to adopt the double-entry system which covers all expenses and debts, and the real balance of the scheme was still unknown. This could be a loophole for misspending, she said. 

Ms Nangnoi said those who were in charge of the scheme must have ordered auditors to gather all account-based information to show its financial status.

Another prosecution witness who attended the trial was National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) member Supha Piyachitti, who previously chaired a subcommittee auditing the rice-pledging scheme under the Yingluck administration. 

Defence lawyer Norawit Lalaeng tried to downplay Ms Supha's account, saying she was promoted as deputy permanent secretary for finance by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government. 

Mr Norawit also accused Ms Supha of taking part in the People's Democratic Reform Committee demonstration against the Yingluck government at the Finance Ministry in 2014. 

Ms Supha said her promotion was based on the normal process. 

She said that as deputy permanent secretary for finance, she only observed the demonstration at the ministry, but didn't join it. 

She said she had made repeated warnings to the government about the damage which could incur from the programme, but insisted she never had any prejudice against the former prime minister. 

Ms Supha said as she was a civil servant, she was always pleased to work in line with the government's policy.

She made the warnings as she did not want to see damages result, adding the programme is like a ticking time bomb where debt increasingly piles up. 

Ms Supha also noted the Yingluck administration misspent money drawn from rice sales.

The money should have been used to pay the debts owed to other parties rather than being used to mobilise the programme further. This resulted in the Finance Ministry shouldering debt which extended until the term of the current government, she said. The court judges said they want Ms Yingluck to prepare an explanation of this point. 

Ms Supha said the rice-pledging scheme under the Yingluck administration did not limit quotas for rice purchases, which meant everyone could sell grain to the government. "In the past, a ceiling was set so rice purchases could be made at only 20 tonnes per person," Ms Supha said.

Mr Norawit asked Ms Supha if she knew the scheme was economically beneficial to the country. She said she realised this was a policy of the government, but she paid interest only to the profits or losses incurred by the scheme.

The court, meanwhile, ordered the defendant, plaintiff and witnesses not to talk to the media about the case. Ms Yingluck turned up with a huge crowd of supporters, including former finance minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong and ex-foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (13)