BANGKOK, 28 November 2013 Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, during the no-confidence debate, defended the government’s rice mortgage scheme, saying the scheme was transparent and beneficial to the farmers.
On the second day of the censure debate, Miss Yingluck came under heavy attacks by the Opposition Party over alleged corruption in the rice-pledging scheme. Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom alleged that there had been corruption in the scheme’s processes and called on the government to end the rice program.
PM Yingluck, as the chairperson of the National Rice Policy Committee, said the rice-pledging scheme was transparent, and it had helped increase farmers’ incomes.
However, she admitted that some corruption acts had been found in the rice program, adding that she had already ordered a swift investigation into the matter.
