Court denies Boonsong an injunction
Order on rice sales loss yet to be executed
The Central Administrative Court has dismissed petitions by ex-commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and four others for an injunction against an administrative order for them to pay 1.77 billion baht in compensation for losses incurred through alleged bogus rice sales deals.
The court ruled yesterday that the order had not yet been executed, and therefore an injunction was not applicable.
Mr Boonsong, and four others, i ncluding f ormer deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol, each filed for a stay of execution on an administrative order jointly signed on Sept 19 last year by Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn and then commerce permanent secretary Chutima Bunyapraphasara, who was appointed as deputy commerce minister.
The administrative order was issued after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha invoked Section 44 of the interim charter last September to give immunity to officials handling the legal execution of demands for compensation for losses incurred by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration’s flagship ricepledging scheme.
The order demands that six people, including Mr Boonsong and Mr Poom, pay a combined total of 20 billion baht in compensation for losses incurred by alleged bogus government-to-government (G-to-G) rice sales under the Yingluck Shinawatra government’s ricepledging scheme.
Of the 20 billion baht in compensation, Mr Boonsong is required to pay 1.77 billion baht and Mr Poom 2.3 billion baht.
The four others are required to pay four billion baht each. They are the former secretary to the former commerce minister Weerawut Wajanaphukka, former Department of Foreign Trade (DFT) director-general Manas Soiploy, his then deputy Tikhumporn Natvaratat, and the DFT’s former director of foreign rice trade Akharapong Theepwatchara.
All except Mr Weerawut each petitioned the court, contesting the legality of the order and seeking an injunction. They named Prime Minister Prayut and three other people as defendants.
The petitions asked the Central Administrative Court to order a halt on the execution of the order, pending a final ruling of the rice pledging case by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on the case against them.
Mr Weerawut did not file a petition as he reportedly fled overseas after the Supreme Court accepted the G-to-G case for deliberation. The Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Weerawut after he failed to appear at a hearing on the case on June 29, last year.
In considering the petitions, the Central Administrative Court yesterday found that since issuing the order for the six people to pay the compensation, the Commerce Ministry had only sent a notice warning them they must comply within 15 days of receiving the order.
No steps had been taken to execute the order, such as seizing their assets for auction, and no serious damage had been incurred to date by the petitioners.
The Central Administrative Court, therefore, rejected the petitions of all five plaintiffs reasoning that the Commerce Ministry’s administrative order for them to pay the compensation had not been executed.