Former Prime Minister Yingluck accused of causing budget loss

A committee investigating the previous government's rice subsidy program has found former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra responsible for causing a loss of about 250 billion baht to the state budget, sources from the Thai Finance Ministry said.

Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (center) arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok. (Source: Reuters/VNA)

The investigation committee in the civil lawsuit against Yingluck government officials was established by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha and is headed by Jirachai Moontongroy, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office. The main role in this committee is played by the Internal Audit Department - General Department of the Ministry of Finance of Thailand.

According to the commission's report, Ms. Yingluck was negligent in her duties, leading to financial losses even though the rice subsidy program had benefited Thai rice farmers.

The report points to three flaws in the rice subsidy program. First, the policy allowed farmers to sell unlimited quantities of rice to the government at above-market prices. Second, many reported government-to-government rice sales agreements never existed. Third, Yingluck’s government failed to halt the program despite repeated warnings from anti-corruption agencies.

The report said that the previous government had spent a total of 990 billion baht on the program by May 2014. In total, the budget had lost 510 billion baht because it had bought rice at a price of up to 15,000 baht per tonne while the market price was only 9,000 baht per tonne at that time.

Investigators stressed that the program led to an expansion of rice cultivation areas and a sharp increase in rice production while the government could only sell a small amount of purchased rice, causing heavy losses to the budget, including the cost of rice storage.

Ms. Yingluck, who was then chair of the National Rice Policy Committee, was held responsible for these losses. Since Thai rice farmers also benefited from the gap between market prices and the government’s purchase price, Ms. Yingluck was only responsible for the 250 billion baht loss.

Responding to the allegations, Pheu Thai Party Deputy Secretary-General Chavalit Vichayasut said that as the legal process related to the civil lawsuit has not yet been completed, all allegations must be disclosed with caution. The Supreme Court of Thailand is also handling a criminal case involving Ms. Yingluck and many former government officials./.

According to VIETNAM+