The defendants were named as caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na Ranong, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsonphaisan, caretaker Agriculture Minister Yukol Limlaemthong, caretaker deputy commerce ministers Nattawut Saikuea and Yanyong Phuangrach, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Commerce Ministry and the Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO).
Rawee Ruangruang, acting chair of the Network of Thai Farmers for Reclaiming Money under the Rice Pledging Scheme, said farm representatives and lawyers had supplied the court with pledging tickets (bai prathuan) issued by the PWO when the rice was delivered to warehouses.
He said there are more than 100 farmers under the network that been affected by the overdue payment, but 50 had already completed the necessary documentation to file their cases. The highest claim for the group was 300,000 baht. More farmers will file lawsuits later.
Mr Rawee said the network also considered filing criminal lawsuits against the caretaker government for fraud. But they will stage a protest at the Office of the Permanent Secretary of Defence on Monday to ask for details of the progress of the overdue payments.
Kriengkrai Chaimongkol, a leader of a farmers' group in Phayao’s Dok Kham Tai district, said his group had also gathered documentation to file civil court cases for compensation plus 7.5% annual interest. They will also file for a criminal case on fraud charges as well.
“The farmers' problem is about living, not politics. Villagers used to admire the policies of Thaksin Shinawatra and even now they still like them. However, we have to separate the problem and the policy,” he said.
In Phichit, the Provincial Lawyers Council has been instructed by the Law Council of Thailand to assist farmers who had not yet received payment for the grain they pledged with the government.
The council will help more than 100 farmers to file court cases against a miller in the province alleging fraud.
The caretaker government owes a total of seven to eight billion baht to farmers in the province.
For the whole country, the government owes around 130 billion baht to over one million farmers. The government has said that it has tried several means to get the money, including borrowing from financial institutions, but no commercial bank wants to get involved in lending money for fear of a crisis of confidence and damage to their reputation. State-run banks have been subjected to criticism by protesters for wanting to lend financial support to the government.
The situation has prompted rice growers to threaten to withdraw their deposits from the state-run Krungthai Bank (KTB) if it fails to offer loans to the rice scheme to meet overdue payments, reports said.
Wichian Puanglamjiag, chairman of the Thai Farmers Association, said farmers are suffering because the caretaker government has no money to make payments for rice they pledged several months ago.
The farmers have no money for daily expenses and cannot make overdue debt payments, he said.
“Farmers understand well that the government has been trying hard to find money to make the rice payments, but no commercial banks or other financial institutions have offered the needed loans.
“This is because they are afraid of the PDRC protest leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, who has threatened that banks that offer loans to the government will face a problem.
“It’s the rice farmers who are facing the negative consequences as a result,” Mr Wichian said.
The caretaker government has also tried to release its stockpiles, after sitting on them for a long time.
The latest move is to offer to sell around 687,000 tonnes of different grades of rice directly to local buyers via auction and through the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (Afet).
The government expects to generate more than 10 billion baht from the sales.
Another 100,000 tonnes would be offered again via Afet on Feb 26.
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