Yingluck vows to fight order to pay huge fine
Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says she will fight for justice after receiving an administrative order to pay 35.7 billion baht in compensation for her alleged dereliction of duty in the loss-ridden rice-pledging scheme.
Speaking outsider the Criminal Court yesterday, Ms Yingluck said she received the order two days ago.
“Such an order is not fair. I will exercise all my rights through every legal channel available to fight the allegations and the unfair order,” she said.
The order demands Ms Yingluck pay the compensation to the ministry within 30 days, and allows her the right to appeal within 90 days.
The former prime minister declined to comment further, saying the country is still grieving the passing of His Majesty the King.
The order was signed by Deputy Finance Minister Wisudhi Srisuphan and finance permanent secretary Somchai Sujjapongse.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had given Mr Wisudhi the authority to sign the order on his behalf. Mr Somchai signed it at the behest of Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong, who is visiting the US and Peru for meetings, according to a Finance Ministry source.
A panel formed to determine the compensation, chaired by Comptroller-General’s Department director-general Manas Jamveha, recently ruled that the former premier must pay 35.7 billion baht for her role in the rice-pledging scheme that led to huge losses from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 crops.
The panel did not find Ms Yingluck responsible for losses in 2011-12 because the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Office of the Auditor-General of Thailand had not informed her of suspected corruption.
Shortly after the 2014 coup, Ms Yingluck was retroactively impeached and, as a result, she was banned from politics for five years.
The two rice crops during 2012-14 incurred losses of 178 billion baht, of which Ms Yingluck has been ordered to pay 20%, with the government seeking others to pay the remaining 80%.
Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya is in charge of finding the remaining perpetrators. The Yingluck government launched the rice-pledging scheme in October 2011 to fulfil a Pheu Thai Party election promise to farmers, who were the party’s voter base.
The pledging price was set at 40-50% higher than the market price in the hope that hoarding rice in massive stockpiles would push up prices, but the scheme backfired.
Last month, Prime Minister Prayut issued an order under Section 44 of the 2014 interim constitution to authorise the Legal Execution Department to seize the assets of state officials liable to pay civil damages under the rice programme.
Under the order, legal execution officials have been given immunity from future lawsuits over their handling of compensation demands for losses incurred by the Yingluck administration’s rice-pledging scheme.