The government may sue former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and associates demanding over 300 billion baht in compensation for the hefty losses from her government’s rice pledging scheme.
Prime Minister’s Office Minister Panadda Diskul said Monday that he had already received the latest report of the losses from the controversial rice scheme from Mr Chirachai Moonthongroi, deputy permanent secretary for PM’s Office and head of the fact-finding committee to determine the civil liability from the rice scheme.
As far as Ms Yingluck was concerned, M.L. Panadda said the former prime minister’s share of liability for the loss in the rice scheme was estimated at 286,639 million baht whereas Mr Boonsong’s share for the loss was estimated at 18,743 million baht.
The Yingluck government bought altogether 13.53 million tonnes of rice from farmers under the rice pledging scheme but managed to export only about one million tonnes, leaving behind the rest rotting in warehouses across the country, said the PM’s Office minister.
He insisted that all the officials who had been investigating the loss from the rice scheme were not biased against the former prime minister and her associates and did their job in a straightforward manner. He said he would report the findings to the Rice Policy Committee on Wednesday.
Asked whether the 300 billion baht estimated loss would be rechecked and reassessed, Panadda said that the figures had been perused carefully. He added that the case should serve a valuable lesson for bureaucrats to perform their duties honestly.
