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The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has exposed a raft of fraudulent methods used by rice mill operators to defraud the government's rice pledging scheme.

Boonsong: Alleged graft case ‘old news’
The information was presented during a meeting on Monday of officials from the DSI, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and senior police from all regions of the country who gathered to work out an action plan to deal with suspected graft in state projects, in particular the rice pledging scheme.
The meeting of the three agencies was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung.
Pol Lt Col Pong-in Intarakhao, director of the DSI's Bureau of Security Crime, said cheating in the crop pledging programme exists in many forms and farmers are taken advantage of by rice millers during the process to weigh rice and measure moisture content.
The methods employed to defraud the rice pledging scheme include:
- Rigging weight scales and moisture-measuring scales when evaluating farmers' paddy. To get the maximum 15,000 baht/tonne, the paddy must hold no more than 15% moisture content. More moisture content result in less pledging cash.
If the measuring scales are rigged to show a higher moisture content, this is deducted from the paddy weight and farmers do not get the full pledging price.
- Issuing fake bai pratuan documents, a document which farmers present at a bank to get cash for rice pledging.
- Issuing fake weight measurement certificates.
- Some rice millers measure the moisture of paddy by assigning their workers to use their hands to scoop paddy and put it into the scales. Moisture from the hands will increase the rice's moisture content and farmers then receive payments smaller than they should have been.
- If the process of paying the full 15,000 baht/tonne to farmers is slow, rice millers offer to pay 10,000 baht to farmers who receive the money immediately instead of having to wait to get the full 15,000 baht.
- Rice millers change the moisture content level indicated in the bai pratuan so they will profit from the difference.
Pol Lt Col Pong-in alleged that officials from the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) were involved in the fraud.
When the PWO runs short of staff, relatives, workers or even the wives of rice millers are hired to work for the PWO. This opens up channels for corruption.
Some work only half days but receive pay for a full day's work.
As pledging prices are higher than those overseas, rice is not exported in line with proper trade mechanisms.
"Latest checks have found that more than 20% of paddy due for export remains in the country and the paddy is secretly sold through auctions to release it from the stockpiles. Some exporters are also favoured over others, which could be deemed as price collusion," said Pol Lt Col Pong-in.
Some rice millers and warehouse operators try to use old stocks of degraded paddy, normally used in animal feed, in the pledging scheme. This give rice millers and warehouse operators the opportunity to make a profit.
Some traders smuggle in paddy from neighbouring countries and register it in the pledging scheme, the officer said.
Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, also on Monday, said the alleged corruption involving the rice pledging schemes in Nakhon Nayok and Kanchanaburi was old information. The case was revealed by the DSI and the Royal Thai Police.
The ministry has sent the matter to police for further investigation.
A source at the DSI's Bureau of Security Crime said the release of rice from the government's stockpiles between July-December 2010 might have been tainted with irregularities.
About 3.4 million tonnes of rice worth 44.26 billion baht were released during the period. The case is now before the National Anti-Corruption Commission.