Thai court voids order for ex-PM to pay US$1bil for rice losses
In this Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017 file photo, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrives at the Supreme Court to make her final statements in a trial on a charge of criminal negligence in Bangkok, Thailand.
On Friday, April 2, 2021, the Central Administrative Court annulled a 2016 order by the country’s Finance Ministry for Shinawatra to pay 35.7 billion baht ($1.1 billion) in compensation for losses incurred by a money-losing rice farming subsidy program that her 2011-2014 administration launched. - AP
BANGKOK, April 3 (AP): A court in Thailand on Friday (Apr 2) annulled a 2016 order by the country’s Finance Ministry for former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to pay 35.7 billion baht (US$1.1 billion) in compensation for losses incurred by a money-losing rice farming subsidy programme that her 2011-2014 administration launched.
The country's Central Administrative Court said the 2016 payment order lacked a legal basis since Yingluck was not responsible for the alleged corruption because it was carried out operationally by other officials. The court said the Finance Ministry failed to prove Yingluck was directly responsible for the financial losses.
Yingluck, whose government was ousted in a 2014 coup, was sentenced in absentia to five years’ in prison in 2017 for negligence in instituting the subsidy program. She fled Thailand before the verdict and called the case politically motivated.
The rice subsidy program was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win the country's 2011 general election. Under the program, the government paid farmers about 50 percent more than they would have received on the global market, with the intention of driving up prices by warehousing the grain.
But other rice-producing countries captured the international rice market by selling at competitive prices. Thailand as a result lost its position as the world’s leading rice exporter and large amounts of rice sat unsold in government warehouses.
Yingluck’s critics described the overriding motive of the rice subsidy program as political - an effort to buy the loyalty of rural voters with state funds.
Yingluck and her defenders said she was persecuted in an effort by political enemies to dismantle the political machine of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled from power by a 2006 military coup after being accused of abuse of power, corruption and disrespect for the country’s monarchy.
His supporters, who delivered him unprecedented electoral victories, believe his only offense was challenging the power of the country’s traditional elite, which is led by monarchists and the military and supported by the urban middle class.
Yingluck and Thaksin remain in self-imposed exile. - AP
The country's Central Administrative Court said the 2016 payment order lacked a legal basis since Yingluck was not responsible for the alleged corruption because it was carried out operationally by other officials. The court said the Finance Ministry failed to prove Yingluck was directly responsible for the financial losses.
Yingluck, whose government was ousted in a 2014 coup, was sentenced in absentia to five years’ in prison in 2017 for negligence in instituting the subsidy program. She fled Thailand before the verdict and called the case politically motivated.
The rice subsidy program was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win the country's 2011 general election. Under the program, the government paid farmers about 50 percent more than they would have received on the global market, with the intention of driving up prices by warehousing the grain.
But other rice-producing countries captured the international rice market by selling at competitive prices. Thailand as a result lost its position as the world’s leading rice exporter and large amounts of rice sat unsold in government warehouses.
Yingluck’s critics described the overriding motive of the rice subsidy program as political - an effort to buy the loyalty of rural voters with state funds.
Yingluck and her defenders said she was persecuted in an effort by political enemies to dismantle the political machine of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled from power by a 2006 military coup after being accused of abuse of power, corruption and disrespect for the country’s monarchy.
His supporters, who delivered him unprecedented electoral victories, believe his only offense was challenging the power of the country’s traditional elite, which is led by monarchists and the military and supported by the urban middle class.
Yingluck and Thaksin remain in self-imposed exile. - AP
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kt notes:
Phew, have been worried sick my sweet lovely darling-ish Yingluck would be harassed by the Thai military govt, wakakaka.
I have always held that the removal of Thaksin as PM, and his sister Yingluck's subsequent removal were improper and a gross abuse of power by the Thai military , elements in the Thai Royalty (better be careful how this is phrased) and their supporters.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have little sympathy personally for Thaksin and Yingluck. They ran corrupt regimes, and the rice subsidy scheme was a massive abuse of government resources.
Wakakakakaka…
DeleteHow righteousness can u be in yr pretending?
"Thaksin and Yingluck. They ran corrupt regimes, and the rice subsidy scheme was a massive abuse of government resources."
U know how that rice scheme been implemented? Or u just fart with some demoNcratic insights from cesspool!
The best example for u to reflect upon yr know-nothingness is biden's 1.9T assistant package to the American public - with more than 50% of the fund channels into interested parties/companies.
In a way, bolihland ketuanan administration had been doing so, do many times, in channelling public funds to their elites via spurious spv to salvage the failed projects!
Yingluck's padi subsidy scheme helped to put more money into the pocket of the rice farmers directly via govt fund offsetting - very socialistic!
Is that the reason that I just fart w/o first understanding the differences?
Maybe blurred & meme-ed pet hate with anything socialist too.
thailand is ccp xiaodi.
ReplyDeleteU 吹 ke!
DeleteGo eat yr jealousy's heart out.