Most of these land plots in Angthong province are currently owned by Doi Kum Hillside Ltd, which is a part of Apichart’s rice-trading business network. In addition to the 53 land plots, AMLO had previously seized other assets of Apichart and his family in connection with criminal lawsuits concerning the rice-pledging scheme. More than 20 persons were sentenced to jail terms of 24-48 years for four fake G-to-G deals with unauthorised Chinese state enterprises for the export of several million tonnes of Thai rice to China. Instead of exporting the rice to China, the rice purchased under the previous Yingluck government’s pledging scheme was actually resold to domestic buyers at a low price. As a result, these bogus G-to-G contracts caused financial damage estimated at more than Bt16 billion to the state.

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 08, 2017 18:08 UTC