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  • NACC targets Boonsong, others in rice deals

    NACC targets Boonsong, others in rice deals

    The National Anti-Corruption Commission has passed a resolution to take legal action against former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, his ex-deputy Poom Sarapol and 19 others for graft in government-to-government rice sales which might have incurred a loss of over 600 billion baht, NACC member Vicha Mahakhun said at a press conference on Tuesday.

    The NACC's action came two days before former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra delivers a closing defence statement to the National Legislative Assembly in the rice-pledging scheme on Thursday and three days before the NLA votes on an impeachment motion against her the next day.

    Mr Vicha, who leads an NACC subcommittee investigating the G-to-G rice deals, said the decision was reached at Tuesday's meeting of the anti-graft agency.

    He said more than 100 rice trading companies involved would be investigated in order to complete the investigation report before the case is filed with the Office of the Attorney General.

    Mr Boonsong, Mr Poom and 19 others, including high-level Commerce Ministry officials and businessmen, would be charged with collusion to benefit companies without licences to carry out G-to-G deals, causing severe damage to the country and the monetary system, he said.

    Mr Vicha said the NACC also made a resolution for the Finance Ministry and the Commerce Ministry's International Trade Department to demand compensation from the companies accused of involvement for the damages which might amount to more than 600 billion baht.

    Asked whether the NACC's decision was intentional as the NLA is scheduled to vote on an impeachment motion against former prime minister Yingluck Shinwatra over the rice-pledging scheme on Friday, Mr Vicha said this was a coincident.

    He said the NACC was investigating this matter long before the NLA scheduled the impeachment vote. Every step had been carried out in normal proceedings, he added.

    Mr Boonsong, meanwhile, said he had learned of the NACC's decision.

    "Although the the NACC has decided to take action against me, the legal proceedings have not ended. The NACC still has to forward the case to the Office of the Attorney General for consideration. It is still not known whether the OAG will go ahead with the indictment.

    "Even if the OAG decides to indict me in court, I believe the court will give me justice because I did not do anything wrong as accused," Mr Boonsong said.

    Mr Boonsong said the NACC, in deciding against him today, was likely to have a hidden agenda.

    "The decision against me was made only two days before Ms Yingluck was to deliver her closing defence statement to the NLA. I'm only a political bait. They hope my case will add weight to Ms Yingluck's impeachment. In fact, these are two separate cases," Mr Boonsong said.

    http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/poli...-in-rice-deals
    Last edited by Mid; 01-21-2015, 03:21 PM. Reason: removed eranous reporting from OP
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

  • #2
    http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30256235.html
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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    • #3
      Panel of judges formed to try Boonsong

      A general assembly of 130 Supreme Court judges Wednesday voted to select nine judges to hear a case against former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and 20 other people for alleged malfeasance, in connection with the sale of government rice under the previous administration's rice-pledging scheme.

      Some of the judges will also hear a separate case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is accused of negligence in her role in the corruptionplagued rice scheme implemented by her government.

      The nine judges selected are Thanarerk Nitisenee, president of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions; Slaikate Wattanapan, president of the Supreme Court's Tax Division; Wiroon Sangtian, president of the court's Commercial and Economic Division; Tassanee Junsunjai Thammagane, president of the court's Bankruptcy Division; Cheep Jullamon, vicepresident of the Supreme Court; Pussapa Panomyunt, president of the court's Juvenile and Family Division; Veerapol Tuhnsuwan, vice-president of the Supreme Court; Nualnoi Pholthavee, president of the court's Intellectual Property and International Trade Division; and Apirat Ladpli, a chief justice in the Supreme Court.

      http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30256745.htmlhttp://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gene...song-rice-case
      Last edited by S Landreth; 03-25-2015, 08:28 PM.
      Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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      • #4
        http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nla...ister-boonsong
        Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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        • #6
          http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nla...-g2g-rice-scam

          ____________

          Commerce rice graft hearing kicks off in NLA

          The National Legislative Assembly has begun the impeachment hearing of former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and two other ministry officials accused of involvement in corrupt government rice deals.

          The two others are ex-deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol and Manas Soiploy, former director-general of the Foreign Trade Department.

          The NLA, chaired by Pornpetch Wichitcholachai, began its meeting on Thursday at 9.30am to examine their roles in government-to-government rice sales during the previous Yingluck Shinawatra administration.

          Vicha Mahakhun, a member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which filed the impeachment motion, was first to deliver an opening statement.

          The three accused were to deliver their defence testimony afterward.

          The NACC charged the three with allowing two Chinese companies, unauthorised by the Chinese government, to seal bilateral contracts to buy Thai rice without having to bid. They allegedly violated the Criminal Code, the Public Competitive Bidding Act and the Anti-Corruption Act.

          After the two sides finished giving their testimony, the NLA was to set up a seven-member committee to raise questions for them to answer and set the dates for the enquiry sessions.

          The two sides are to deliver their closing statements on May 7 and the NLA will vote whether or not to impeach the three on May 8.

          http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/poli...cks-off-in-nla
          Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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          • #7
            NACC accuses former ministers of fabricating G2G rice scheme


            Claims of rice stockpiles being sold through government-to-government (G2G) scheme by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration were "total lies", National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) member Vicha Mahakhun told members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) yesterday.


            The scheme, he said, played a key role in "one of the most scandalous corruption cases in Thai history".

            However, former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said the allegations were part of a political game by the NACC, claiming the commission had chosen to single out and annihilate a political group by using "double standards". He also accused the NACC of rushing the case through without taking into account important witnesses and evidence, which led to false conclusions.

            The other two accused, former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol and former director of the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Trade Department Manus Soiploy, also said they had hard evidence to prove their innocence.

            The NLA held a second meeting yesterday to deliberate on impeachment cases against public officials in relation to alleged corruption in the G2G scheme. The first meeting was held earlier this month.

            At yesterday's meeting, which was chaired by NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, Vicha presented the case statement on NACC's behalf. Boonsong and Poom came armed with a team of 11 lawyers.

            In the question-and-answer session, Vicha questioned the very existence of the Chinese government representatives who had engaged in the deal. He pointed out that Beijing had claimed that these "state enterprises" were not their representatives.

            Vicha also asked why the companies Kwang-Tung Stationary and Hai-Narn Grain and Oil Industrial Trading - who the Pheu Thai-led government claimed were representatives of the Chinese government -sold the rice back to Thai local distributors. He backed this claim by saying local firms Nakorn-Luang Ka-Kao and Thai-Fah 2551 had both come forward to say they bought rice from the Chinese companies.

            He also said documents issued by the Foreign Trade Department recording the so-called sale to China only accounted for a single ex-warehouse transaction. Vicha said the deal was in fact with North Korea and the transaction had to be cancelled because no payment was ever made.

            "There was never any G2G deal because the rice was sold at less than market price and then redistributed in the country. This created an oversupply, pushing the price even lower," Vicha pointed out.

            The NACC member also accused the officials of doing nothing to prevent corruption or making any effort to organise fair bidding. "You have caused immeasurable damage to the country. You cannot deny responsibility because you had direct power in overseeing the G2G affair. If you detected any error, you should have fixed it. In reality, though, you did the opposite by committing [corruption], hiding and denying the corruption. You have severely violated the official code of ethics," he concluded.

            'Double standards'

            Boonsong, however, denied all the charges and even criticised the behaviour of Vicha, who played a key role in Yingluck's impeachment.

            "This NACC official is prejudiced and engaged in improper conduct that demonstrates his personal bias against me by giving media interviews indicating that I'm guilty," he said.

            The former minister went on to say that it was difficult for him to believe he will undergo a fair and legal deliberation process now that the case has been handed over to Vicha.

            He claimed that NACC was using the same double standards against him as the ones it used against Yingluck's administration, in comparison to the Abhisit Vejjajiva government's rice scheme, which is still incomplete after five years.

            He went on to say that the NACC had rushed the G2G case by refusing to investigate the buyers, who were representatives of the Chinese government. He added that these firms had sent the NACC official letters confirming the fact that they were state enterprises. He claimed that the rice-pledging scheme is being used for an artificial political discourse to discredit the Yingluck government.

            "It's a shame that those against Pheu Thai turned the rice scheme into political discourse to bring down Yingluck's government, even though the scheme helped millions of farmers," he said.

            Boonsong said the G2G system has been widely used in many countries and that Thailand too had engaged in it several times in the past.

            Poom agreed, saying the G2G deal was beneficial to the country because the government did not want the stockpiled rice to degrade or rot and that releasing the whole lot through this deal was the best option.

            He also pointed out that if the G2G deal had been delayed, the price of the rice would have dropped further and there would have been the additional cost of storage and tax. Plus, he said, it forged stronger ties with China.

            The NLA will meet again next Thursday to pose questions to all sides.

            The final statements will be presented on May 7, and the NLA will vote for or against impeachment the following day.

            one of,........:http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30258644.html
            Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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            • #8
              Ex-ministers choose not to answer NLA's G2G queries

              Say their responses will affect the adjudication of their cases in court

              Former members of the ousted Pheu Thai-led government who were accused of fabricating the government-to-government (G2G) rice deals have decided not to attend a question-and-answer session with the National Legislative Assembly (NLA). The NLA is set to consider their impeachment.

              The accused include former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, his then-deputy Poom Sarapol and former director of the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Trade Department Manus Soiploy,

              NLA vice president Surachai Liengboonlertchai quoted the accused as saying they would not attend the meeting because they believed that answering the NLA's questions would negatively affect their cases, which are due to be adjudicated by the Supreme Court's special department on political cases.

              The three are scheduled to deliver their final statements to NLA members on May 7, before the NLA votes on the following day as to whether the accused should be impeached.

              In response to Boonsong and Poom's accusation last week that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had been hasty with the investigation and was politically motivated, NACC member Vicha Mahakhun said his decision to prosecute these individuals had nothing to do with politics. He also said that impeachment was an important process, because if impeached, they will be banned from politics for five years.

              He also insisted that Boonsong and Poom had falsely claimed that the two Chinese enterprises involved in the deal were representatives of the Beijing government. He said that though they were state enterprises, they had not been authorised by the Chinese government to buy rice from Thailand as part of a G2G programme.

              Also, no rice was actually exported to China under this scheme Vicha said, adding that the deal was designed to allow the Pheu Thai government's business allies to buy rice from "fake" Chinese firms at a price lower than the market price. The rice was then redistributed in the country, thus making huge profits for the firms, as well as bringing the market price down via oversupply.

              The NLA was set to ask Boonsong and Poom to provide evidence of the two Chinese state firms working as representatives of the Chinese government.

              NLA members were also to ask if Boonsong and Poom were aware that the rice that was supposed to be exported to China was in fact bought and distributed locally, thus bringing damage to the country.

              http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30259133.html
              Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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              • #9
                Have to wonder how any past government official anywhere in the world could survive the this one sided vendetta.

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                • #10
                  Originally posted by Delayed View Post
                  Have to wonder how any past government official anywhere in the world could survive the this one sided vendetta.

                  Have to wonder why you think that government officials who are brought to account for their involvement in a hugely corrupt mega monetary loss and erroneous fiscal enterprise such as the rice-pledging scheme are victims of what you call a ''one-sided vendetta''

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                  • #11
                    Such a predictable reply from a fokker1

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                    • #12
                      ^
                      Isn't it just?...

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                      • #13
                        http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nla...merce-minister
                        Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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                        • #14
                          Impeach former Phue Thai officials over rice deals, says NACC

                          Anti-graft agency says the evidence against the trio is overwhelming

                          THE ANTI-GRAFT agency yesterday urged the National Legislative Assembly to impeach three former government officials under the Pheu Thai administration, saying that they could not prove the Chinese state enterprises involved in a supposed government-to-government rice contract represented the central Chinese government.

                          National Anti-Corruption Commission member Vicha Mahakhun told NLA members that only state enterprises officially recognised as a delegation representing the Chinese government could engage in a G2G programme with the Thai government.

                          The three accused former officials are former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol and the ex-director of the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Trade Department, Manus Soiploy.

                          The two former ministers yesterday attended the NLA meeting to deliver their closing speeches. Manus did not show up but produced his closing speech in writing.

                          The NLA is set to vote on whether to impeach the accused today.

                          Vicha alleged that the Chinese state enterprises in question - Guangdong Stationery & Sporting Goods Import & Export Corp and the Hainan Grain and Oil Industrial Trading - had not received official authorisation from the Chinese central government to engage in a G2G deal with the Thai government.

                          He alleged that the claim there was a G2G deal was a deception created by the three accused ex-officials.

                          Vicha alleged that bogus G2G deals were part of a plan that enabled a network of companies "network of alliance business firms" to make a huge amount of money while doing severe damage to the country's economy and the state budget.

                          He said one warehouse rice transaction involving China showed no G2G programme with that country but instead stated that the rice was sold at a "friendly price" to a Thai distributor.

                          He alleged that the distributor consisted of an alliance of firms belonging to members of the Pheu Thai Party and the transaction resulted in a huge profit.

                          The bogus G2G programme was approved, administrated and regulated by the accused ex-officials, he alleged, and as such they should take full responsibility for it and be impeached and barred from holding public office for five years.

                          But Boonsong insisted that it was a real programme because both Chinese companies were state enterprise and as such had officially represented the Chinese government.

                          He said there had been no public deception and he accused the NACC of refusing to interrogate the two Chinese state enterprises, which indicated prejudice against him and his political faction.

                          "Everyone wants to see justice but the NACC is deliberately trying to picture us as corrupt," he said. "This has created a lot of embarrassment for me and my family.

                          "Such an accusation indicates bias, prejudice and resentment towards myself.

                          "Again, I would like to deny all the accusations and wrongdoings."

                          Poom said he still believed that engaging the two Chinese state enterprises was the best course of action for this country at the time as high stockpiles of rice were rotting.

                          He said the process was normal practice and had been conducted for a very long time by the same civil servants who had expertly carried out the task for many governments.

                          http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30259583.html
                          Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

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                          • #15
                            The Nationhttp://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nla...for-corruption
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