Thai protest leader denounces ‘corrupt’ rice-buying scheme

Thailand’s fiery protest leader denounced the government’s battered rice-buying scheme as corrupt on Wednesday, piling on the pressure after a weekend election did nothing to restore stability in the politically polarised country.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban and his supporters have been trying to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra since November, prompting the government to announce a state of emergency ahead of Sunday's vote, which was boycotted by the opposition.

The rice programme was among the populist policies pioneered by Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister central to the conflict that has divided Thais for at least eight years. He was toppled by the military in 2006.

Generous subsidies for farmers were a centrepiece of the platform that swept Ms Yingluck to power in a landslide election win in 2011, but have left Thailand with vast stockpiles of rice and a bill it is struggling to fund.

Losses to the taxpayer, estimated at 200 billion baht (€4.5 billion) a year, have fuelled protests against the prime minister and payment problems risk alienating farmers at the heart of her support base in the poorer north and northeast.

“Yingluck took farmers’ rice more than seven months ago and hasn’t paid them,” Mr Suthep told supporters on Wednesday, as another warrant was issued for his arrest.

“Some of them have killed themselves and some of them are crying in front of the television because they don’t have a penny ... The government said the rice-purchasing policy was to help farmers but instead the policy became part of the government’s corruption machine.”

Ms Yingluck and her government are being investigated by an anti-graft panel for alleged irregularities in the rice scheme. That and other cases going through the politicised courts could dissolve her Puea Thai Party and ban top officials.

Anti-government protests have been blocking parts of Bangkok in the latest round of an eight-year dispute that broadly pits Bangkok's middle class, southern Thais and the royalist establishment against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Ms Yingluck and Mr Thaksin. Ten people have been killed in sporadic bursts of violence, although the capital has been calm since Sunday's disrupted poll.

“Farmers who took their rice to milling houses received just over 10,000 baht (€225) when the price they were guaranteed was 15,000 baht (€338) ,” Mr Suthep said at a rally.“The rest of the money went to into the mouths of the dogs ... Each of these dogs is fat.”

The Criminal Court approved arrest warrants on Wednesday for 19 protest leaders, including Mr Suthep, for violating the state of emergency.

The decree bans political gatherings of more than five people, despite the fact that thousands have gathered at key intersections every night since it was introduced last month.

Mr Suthep faces charges of murder related to violence in 2010 when, as deputy prime minister, he sent in troops to crush protests by “red shirt” supporters of Mr Thaksin. More than 90 people were killed in the violence.

Protesters succeeded in disrupting voting in a fifth of constituencies in Sunday’s election. The incomplete poll means Ms Yingluck could head a caretaker administration for months, unable to make policy decisions, until vacant seats can be filled.

Reuters