Democrat MPs yesterday played a video clip showing how to rort the rice-pledging scheme by stealing stockpiled rice and replacing it with low-grade grain.
They claim the technique is being used by several mill and warehouse operators to bolster their profits.
Led by Phitsanulok MP Warong Dechgitvigrom, the opposition MPs gathered at Government House and played the clip before reporters. They also performed a live demonstration of the technique using scale-replica rice sacks and conveyor belts.
The MPs said mill and warehouse operators are stealing pledged rice _ for which they have already been paid by the government _ from the centre of their stockpiled stacks.
They then sell this rice again privately to other traders, effectively meaning they are being paid twice for the same rice.
To prevent detection by government inspectors, mill operators then replace the stolen rice with low-cost inferior-grade grain. Because the pledged rice was stolen from the centre of stockpiles, it is impossible to detect irregularities when the stacks are viewed from the outside, as is normal during government inspections.
Mr Warong said the clip featured a rice warehouse in Nakhon Sawan and stressed that it should prompt the government to launch more thorough inspections of its rice stocks.
The Democrat MP also criticised the Commerce Ministry's plan to implant microchips in sacks of rice under the rice-pledging scheme to enable monitoring of stocks and curb irregularities.
He said Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan lacked any understanding of the problems plaguing the pledging scheme.