Boonsong, Poom, Manas impeached for fake rice exports
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Boonsong, Poom, Manas impeached for fake rice exports

Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, left, and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol of the past Yingluck Shinawatra administration were retroactively removed from their positions on Friday for corruption in government-to-government rice sales. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, left, and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol of the past Yingluck Shinawatra administration were retroactively removed from their positions on Friday for corruption in government-to-government rice sales. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Friday voted to impeach former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol and former foreign trade chief Manas Soyploy for fake government-to-government rice deals.

Of the 220 NLA members, 190 were present for the vote.

Mr Boonsong was impeached by 180 votes to six, with four abstentions.

Mr Poom was impeached by 182-5. Two members abstained and one ballot was ruled invalid.

Mr Manas, former director-general of the Department of Foreign Trade, was impeached by 158-25, with six abstentions. One ballot was ruled invalid.

They were retroactively removed from office and banned from politics for five years under the provisions of the interim constitution.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had accused them of fabricating government-to-government rice deals with two Chinese companies. Instead they resold it to domestic firms with close ties to the past Yingluck Shinawatra administration, which had stockpiled the grain through its rice-pledging scheme.

Mr Boonsong, Mr Poom and Mr Manas had failed to confirm whether Guangdong Stationery & Sporting Goods Import & Export, and Hainan Grain & Oil Industrial Trading, were really authorised by the Chinese government to purchase the rice under G2G deals. The two firms were not rice trading companies, the NACC charged.

The offences occurred between Sept 8, 2011 and Feb 22, 2013, during the Yingluck administration.

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