Cambodian rice exports to Thailand rising; Democrat revives allegations
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will consider claims of corruption in the government's rice-pledging scheme made during a recent parliamentary session, a senior official from the agency said. However, it remains unclear when the NACC will conclude its ongoing probe.
During screening of the 2014 budget bill last week, Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom revived an allegation against the government first made during the no-confidence debate last December. He said the government suspiciously allowed a private company owned by "Sia Piak" to buy rice from the government's stockpile for just Bt5,700 per tonne.
Warong posted a Facebook message outlining the allegations yesterday and is preparing to hold a press conference and provide additional information to the NACC today.
NACC commissioner Klanarong Chanthik yesterday confirmed that the information supplied by Warong during the debate on the budget bill would be assessed in their probe.
"We have assigned officials to monitor the debate," Klanarong said. "We will use the information in handling the case."
Klanarong chairs the NACC subcommittee tasked with investigating alleged corruption in the government's rice-pledging scheme.
The scheme is the most controversial of the populist policies launched by the Yingluck government. Promising prices of up to Bt15,000 per tonne, critics of the scheme say it has caused more than Bt260 billion in damage to the country.
According to Warong, "Sia Piak" was affiliated with "Sia Piang", a person close to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. After Sia Piak's company bought rice from the government, it immediately sold it to a rice miller in Kamphaeng Phet for Bt12,000 per tonne, the MP said.
Warong has implicated the secretary to the commerce minister in the scandal.
Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut yesterday also accused the government of distorting figures related to the rice scheme.
The government tried to claim that it successfully sold rice via government-to-government agreements, he said.
"But we have not seen any export of rice from the government stockpile," Chavanond said.
Cambodian connection
Chavanond also cited a recent Phnom Penh Post report that exports of Cambodian unpolished rice to Thailand were increasing. The opposition politician suspected the Cambodian rice might have been imported by corrupt people in order to profit from the government's rice-pledging scheme.
The English-language daily reported that government figures show that in the first four months of this year, Cambodian milled-rice exports to Thailand reached 14,250 tonnes, while total Cambodian overseas exports amounted to 118,504 tonnes.
Meanwhile, NACC commissioner Sataphon Laothong said he had already pulled out of the subcommittee that is looking into the rice-pledging scheme.
"I wish to avoid any conflict of interest," he said.
According to Sataphon, while he was serving as police inspector-general, he was appointed to a subcommittee monitoring the implementation of the rice-pledging scheme. At that time, the deputy commerce minister himself chaired the subcommittee.
Sataphon said another NACC commissioner, Prasart Pongsivapai, had taken his place in the NACC probe into alleged corruption in the scheme.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/06/03/nacc-to-probe-rice-scheme-testimony/
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