CABINET MINISTER, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ACCUSED BY COUNTER CORRUPTION COMMISSION
CROOKS OPERATING AS POLITICIANS
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| (Pic: Boonsong) |
Anti-corruption officials in Thailand dropped a political time bomb today announcing that they would be charging fifteen people mainly government officials with corruption over Thailand’s rice trade.
As thousands of anti-government demonstrators continued to blockade the capital Bangkok complaining of the corrupt practices of the country’s Shinawatra regime, the National Anti-Corruption said it was also investigating the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for negligence as she failed to stop the corruption.
The announcement comes just a day after Prime Minister Yingluck insisted on going ahead with an election on February 2nd.
At the same time farmers from the government’s power base – the farming communities of north central and north east Thailand said they planned to block roads themselves if they were not paid for their rice.
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| Poom Sarapol |
The row is over a scandal hit rice pledging scheme under which the government guaranteed prices for rice from Thai farmers which were up to 50 per cent higher the market value. The government planned to stockpile the rice – thus forcing up world prices.
But the scheme crashed. Neighbouring countries produced enough extra rice to satisfy world demand. Thailand’s placing in the rice export business dropped.
And to cap it all millions of tons of rice was smuggled from Burma and Cambodia and passed off as Thai rice and sold to the government even as the Thai farmers were still harvesting.
By June last year the government had lost US$4.4 billion dollars and now its coffers are empty and unable to pay the farmers.
The people who made the money were government ministers, officials, and middle-men – the latter being the very people the scheme should have cut out.
The suspects include former Agricultural Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol and the former Director General of the Department of External Trade, Manas Sryapol.
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| 31 anti-government protesters were injured when IEDs possibly grenades were thrown into crowds today |
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| Point of first explosion – video link here |
Corruption Commissioner Vicha Mahakhun identified two Chinese companies Guangdong Stationery & Sporting Goods Import & Export Corp and Hainan Grain & Oil Industrial Trading Co which were involved.
‘There was no evidence that they were authorised by the Chinese government to purchase the rice. And there is no evidence that any rice went to China.’
It would take a week, said Vicha, to decide whether to proceed against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for dereliction of duty.
In the west we have pork barrelling a term that originated in a pre-Civil War practice of giving slaves a barrel of salt pork as a reward and requiring them to compete among themselves to get their share of the handout.
The rice pledging scheme is just a Thai version with the farmers seeing little gains. I remember in Western Australia when 40 gallon drums of grog were delivered to Aborigines to make sure they were so drunk they couldn't vote for a certain party. Politicians are the same all over the world. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.
I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.
Who appointed the Corruption Commissioners?
You can surely bet it was not Thaksin who appointed them. There would never be any investigation, even as children can see the corruption.