waerth Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 BANGKOK, February 20, 2014 (AFP) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday protested her innocence after an anti-corruption panel filed charges of neglect of duty that could lead to her removal from office. Yingluck, who has faced near four months of mass street protests seeking her resignation, questioned why the investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) into an expensive rice subsidy scheme had apparently been fast-tracked. "I reaffirm that I am innocent of the accusations by the NACC," Yingluck said on her official Facebook page. "Even though I am accused of criminal charges and face removal (from office), which were the wishes of people who want to overthrow the government, I am willing to cooperate to establish the facts," she added. The NACC says Yingluck ignored warnings that the rice scheme was fostering corruption and causing financial losses. She has been summoned to hear the charges on February 27. Yingluck urged the panel not to rush to deliver a ruling "which may be criticised by society as benefiting people who want to overthrow the government," noting that similar complaints against the previous administration were still under investigation. Her critics say the controversial scheme, which guarantees farmers above-market rates for rice, has encouraged corruption, drained the public coffers and left the country with a mountain of unsold stock. They accuse her billionaire family of using taxpayers' money to buy the loyalty of rural voters through such populist policies. Yingluck said she was simply trying to improve the lives of farmers. The opposition demonstrators want Yingluck to step down and make way for a temporary unelected government that would oversee loosely defined reforms to tackle corruption and alleged vote-buying. The country's main opposition party boycotted a February 2 election and the results are not expected to be known until voting is held in constituencies where voting was disrupted by protesters. In another legal setback to Yingluck, a Thai Civil Court on Wednesday ordered the government not to use force against peaceful protests, limiting the authorities' scope to deal with opposition rallies that have descended into violence on several occasions. Sixteen people have been killed, both protesters and policemen, and hundreds injured in gunfire and grenade blasts. New York-based Human Rights Watch accused both sides of using live ammunition in clashes on Tuesday in Bangkok's historic district in which five people were killed and dozens wounded. "Excessive force by the police and violence by groups on both sides of the political divide needs to stop to prevent this situation from escalating out of control," HRW Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement. The government has said security forces used only rubber bullets and not live ammunition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 NACC's hasty move in rice scandal a sop to opposition: PM Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday hit back at the anti-graft agency, accusing it of rushing a decision to charge her with dereliction of duty in connection with the rice-pledging scheme. She says the agency’s move was in line with a desire by "people who want to bring down the government". "I reaffirm that I am innocent of the accusations made by the National Anti-Corruption Commission," Yingluck said on her Facebook page and added she was ready to prove that. "Even though I am accused of criminal charges and face removal [from office], as per the wishes of people who want to overthrow the government, I am willing to cooperate to establish the facts." She said she had always been committed to serving Thais with honesty, integrity and her utmost efforts. "I shall therefore not let them down, particularly regarding my responsibility to protect the interests of the Thai people and uphold our democratic system with His Majesty the King as head of state." She said the NACC had confirmed she would be accorded full rights and treated fairly and transparently. As chairwoman of the National Rice Policy Committee, Yingluck said she was responsible for policy-making, while implementation of the scheme was by government agencies under her policy directions. "The bureaucratic system has its own standards and regulations, so my work at the policy level does not have the authority to directly operate, order or overrule the work of government officials in any way." The execution of the projects were to be in line with Cabinet resolutions and based on government policy. "I have always been aware that government work and private-sector work must be based on such principles and with a clear delegation of duties so that there is accountability in all issues and accountability in each procedure." She said accusations had been levelled against her even though she had not been involved at the operating level. Yingluck said she had submitted two official petitions to the NACC on February 11 for the commission to replace Professor Vicha Mahakun with a new member. She had not been informed about the status of the request. However on Tuesday, the NACC announced the charges and informed her she would be summoned to hear them on February 27. "This period seems very short for the NACC to investigate a political case. It has never happened before," she said. Vicha, who is in charge of the case, declined to comment on Yingluck's statement, saying he would speak at a press conference later. The prime minister also noted that a cabinet member in the last government was charged with many counts of corruption, including some related to that government's rice insurance scheme. However, there had been no judicial development in that particular case, while it had taken only 21 days to investigate and bring charges against her. "I wish to prove once again that the scheme will definitely be beneficial to farmers... "More important, if there were indeed true justice without any hidden agenda, the NACC would not have investigated in such a hurry and delivered a judgement in a manner that has allowed society to deem it as beneficial only to those who want to topple the government." http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/NACCs-hasty-move-in-rice-scandal-a-sop-to-oppositi-30227375.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 GSB reports withdrawals of 104 billion baht in the last 4 days, hmm not much more to go and they'll have enough to pay off the farmers in full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Exporters sound alarm on rotting rice stocks With the government controlling a massive rice stockpile, exporters are warning that long-stored grains will eventually erode buyer confidence in Thai rice quality and damage the country's storied rice export industry. "The latest report that Iraq will not buy Thai rice until the quality improves is a very good example," said Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association. ... http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/396138/exporters-sound-alarm-on-rotting-rice-stocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waerth Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h Cambodian Rice Found at Phichit Govt Warehouse. Big politician involved in the smuggling. http://www.manager.co.th/Local/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9570000020949 … Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 2h Revealing 4 main 20 minor steps to corrupt the Rice Scheme Policy. by @NochPH (in Thai) http://shar.es/Fc1Ha Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 2h The 4 Main steps are 1.Rice Farmers registration 2. milling process 3. transferring rice to the warehouse 4. selling rice. via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h the 20 minor steps are 1 fraud registering the farmland area 2 fraud registering the yielded products via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h 3 Complicated registering farmland leasing contracts making it’s hard to track via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h 4 Selling the Rice Farmers IDs to the mills so the mills can get more money from the government. via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h 86% of the Rice Farmers in Thailand only produce about 25 tones for rice a year or 350,000 baht value, via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h but the government has spent over 680 billion Baht to buy 44 million tones of Rice in 2 years. Meaning someone has smuggled rice @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h from Thailand neighbors e.g. Burma , Cambodia to sell to Thai government as reported on The Telegraph. via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h Some have sold “invisible rice†to the government, then made up their own pledge papers. via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h Notice that some of the warehouses in many provinces have been burnt down. via @NochPH Patric Youngsamart â€@PatricLand 1h Translated : Revealing 4 main 20 minor steps to corrupt the Rice Scheme Policy via @NochPH https://www.facebook.com/patric.yangsamat/posts/10202243718512690 … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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