Rice Missing, Rotten Or Replaced By Inferior Stock, Panadda Says

[Flashermac]

Rice stored at a number of facilities nationwide under the controversial rice pledging scheme was rotten, missing or replaced with inferior rice, PM Office's permanent secretary ML Panadda Diskul said Saturday.

 

Panadda posted a message on his Facebook page yesterday revealing the initial findings of the government's inspection of rice storage facilities, which began on Thursday.

 

He said many rice sacks were missing, while a number of them had code numbers that did not match documents, suggesting that the original rice may have been peddled to mills and replaced by old inferior rice that would be bought by those mills at a lower price.

 

 

http://www.nationmul...--30237837.html

[Plainsdrifter]

Did you expect otherwise?

[Flashermac]

Rice missing, rotten or 'replaced by inferior stock'

 

 

Rice stored at a number of facilities nationwide under the controversial rice-pledging scheme was rotten, missing or replaced with inferior rice, PM Office's permanent secretary ML Panadda Diskul said yesterday.

 

Panadda posted a message on his Facebook page yesterday revealing the initial findings of the government's inspection of rice storage facilities, which began on Thursday.

 

He said many rice sacks were missing while a number of them had code numbers that did not match documents, suggesting that the original rice may have been peddled to mills and replaced by old inferior rice that would be bought by those mills at a lower price.

 

Besides rotten rice, some rice had not been treated to repel rice-eating insects while being stored, he said.

 

In some rice-storage facilities, rice had been broken into powder and the storage of rice sacks was disordered, probably in an attempt to make inspections more difficult, wrote Panadda, who questioned how the system could be so lacking in good governance and cause much hardship to rice farmers.

 

Meanwhile, inspections by a combined force of police and military officers at two storage facilities in Phichit found piles of rice to be subsiding.

 

Inspectors decided to bring in machinery to help make a more accurate inspection at the two sites. The two problematic storage facilities are located at Bang Mun Nak and Muang districts.

 

At Muang district, inspectors discovered 152,105 sacks of registered rice weighting a total of 15.18 tonnes. Inspectors will make a determination of its quality.

 

And in Amnat Charoen, inspectors found rice under the scheme was not missing although some had become rotten after being damaged by rain that fell through leaking roofs.

 

Inspectors tested the quality of rice in the province and if they discover any irregularities the government will prosecute those involved.

 

In Si Sa Ket, it appeared no irregularities had been found so far. The quality of rice inspected met the standard specified under the scheme.

 

The inspections were ordered by the National Council for Peace and Order.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Rice-missing-rotten-or-replaced-by-inferior-stock-30237850.html

[cavanami]

Everyday, the Thai TV news shows the crap rice and the gaps in the stock where the rice should have been!

[Flashermac]

More rice missing from storage

 

 

MILITARY OFFICIALS yesterday continued to inspect state rice stockpiles stored in provincial granaries and again found evidence that large quantities were missing or in poor condition.

 

The rice inspection follows the junta's order two weeks ago to close all granaries nationwide in a bid to check the size and quality of the stockpiles.

 

Granaries at Pathum Thani province were among several facing closer checks.

 

"After finding 90,000 sacks of missing rice at [Pathum Thani] granaries, I have ordered officials to investigate more thoroughly into reasons for the missing rice today," said Deputy National Police Chief Pol General Ake Angsananont.

 

In Phitchit, officials, after inspecting three rice granaries, found more than 200,000 sacks of rice (or 20,000 tonnes) could not be accounted for. A sack contains 100 kilograms of rice.

 

Inspection of granaries at Sirichai Intertrade found only 13,123 sacks of 5 per cent broken white rice in storage, compared to 214,196 sacks listed. However, some rice stored at the granaries had been marked for delivery to buyers and the stocks were closed to inspectors. Another check on granaries belonging to KTB Agro found records for 13,986 tonnes of 5 per cent broken white rice from the season crop of 2013/14 stored under the rice-pledging scheme. But inspectors could find only 8,928 tonnes, most of them broken rice.

 

A third granary will be inspected again today after it was found several rows of rice stored there had collapsed.

 

In Lampun, officials hoped to resume an inspection begun on July 4 after discovering the type of rice in storage was not the same as that listed on the records. The inspection team yesterday was not able to unlock the granary door, as a surveyor did not show up. According to the data, 3,854 tonnes of rice were delivered to the granary during June 13 and again on October 31, 2013.

 

Inspection of a granary in Uthai Thani, which belongs to Suwan Thanyakij Agriculture Mill, did not uncover anything unusual. It found 290,000 sacks of mainly 5 per cent broken white rice.

 

However, "after inspecting rice for three days, they found broken stock of an unusual colour which could not be explained", said an official.

 

At Surin, rice inspectors have been divided into four teams to check 101 granaries containing 8.3 million sacks. On this third day they had not found anything unusual about these stocks.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/More-rice-missing-from-storage-30237875.html

[cavanami]

On the Thai TV news, they often open a sack of the rice and it looks terrible! very discolored...I would say *** maybe *** it

is good to feed the pigs, that's about it!

 

This is the low/medium level corruption in Thailand that will take several generations to root out, IMO.

[Bangkoktraveler]

Those dirty rats....

[Flashermac]

Rice stocks check to end this month

 

 

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has speeded up inspections of the state's rice stockpiles and expects to complete them by the end of this month before implementing a plan to release the stocks to the market.

 

Meanwhile, two new acting directors-general of the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Trade and Internal Trade departments were appointed and they have set sights mainly on managing the rice stockpiles.

 

A meeting yesterday chaired by General Pratinant Saihasadee on behalf of junta chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha was given a presentation on the progress of inspecting the rice stockpiles in provincial granaries after officials were sent to the sites over the past week. The inspections aim to determine the quantity and quality of state rice stocks.

 

According to the inspection committee, it found some rice was missing and massive deterioration in quality. It said it was committed to completing its inspections by the end of this month and providing a summary on its findings at each granary nationwide. How much rice is damaged would also be revealed.

 

"The outcome of the inspection will be submitted to the NCPO chief for consideration. Those who are found to have been involved in corruption [within the rice-stockpiling system] will be prosecuted," said a reporter citing the meeting's resolution.

 

NCPO deputy chief General Chatchai Sarikalaya, who is in charge of economic affairs, has assigned the Commerce Ministry to lay out a rice-release plan, which would also be sent to the junta chief for consideration.

 

This follows a meeting on Saturday he held with operators of the rice industry, including millers. That meeting concluded that the release of stockpiled rice would be handled to ensure that it does not affect the market price.

 

ML Panadda Diskul, permanent secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, is chairman of the inspection committee. In his latest report on Sunday, he said 24 teams of inspection officials had been sent to 12 provinces where there are granaries storing state-owned rice. At some of the granaries, rice was found to have gone missing. Moreover, the inspectors found the quality of some stocks had deteriorated. Yesterday in Phichit province, inspectors discovered that 15,000 tonnes of 5 per cent broken white rice was missing from four of 13 silos. A representative of the Public Warehouse Organisation filed a lawsuit against KTB Agro Co, owner of granaries housing the missing rice, alleging embezzlement.

 

Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Chutima Bunyapraphasara appointed Duangporn Rodphaya acting director-general of the Foreign Trade Department and Jintana Chaiyawonnagal as acting director-general of the Internal Trade Department last week, replacing Surasak Riangkrul and Somchart Soithong respectively.

 

Surasak was reassigned as ministry inspector-general, while Somchart has not yet received a new appointment.

 

Duangporn said clarifying how much rice is in the stockpiles and managing them would be her priority in her new post. Previously a ministry adviser, she said she would need some time to work on the rice issue and would soon reveal information to the public, as rice stocks are a hot topic for people right now.

 

Jintana said the Internal Trade Department was investigating the information on rice stocks under the instruction of the NCPO. She said she would call for a meeting of senior officials within a few days.

 

The Internal Trade Department was directly responsible for the rice-pledging scheme of the elected government ousted by the junta. It was also responsible for managing costs of other farm produce. Jintana was previously deputy director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department.

 

Surasak and Somchart have both denied that there was corruption in the rice-pledging scheme and insisted they both carefully administered the project transparently.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Rice-stocks-check-to-end-this-month-30237946.html

[cavanami]

Can't they do things in parallel? count the rice and sell it at the same time???

wait until the rice is more rotted???

[King Kung]

It takes time to bury the monetary transactions through foreign accounts. Accordingly, why did you fly to Singapore with your wife and children last month? It is inconceivable (or uncomfortable) that a lovely smiling Thai person might be deceiving us. Therefore, it's YOU! White devil. It soothes all the pain.

 

A bit tongue in cheek, but not far off the mark. The entire country is feeling conciliatory and prepared to find a scapegoat. And it won't be them.