Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and 21 individuals who include commerce officials and businessmen involved in the fake G-to-G rice deals are to face a lawsuit demanding hefty compensation amounting to 20 billion baht for damages from the fake rice deals.
A well-informed Commerce Ministry source said that investigators into the fake rice deals had come up with a figure of the damages estimated at about 20 billion baht.
The report figure will be submitted to the Finance Ministry which will work out how much compensation each of the 22 people implicated in the fraud will be held accountable, said the source, adding that Mr Boonsong, the chief suspect, will have to bear the most compensation.
The source said the Commerce Ministry had been notified by the Office of the Attorney-General about the progress of the probe into the fake G-to-G rice deals which were earlier ruled by the National Anti-Corruption Commission as grounded.
The OAG is optimistic that it can indict 15 businessmen implicated in the rice scheme with criminal charges.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the Pheu Thai party had hired 17 Thai and foreign lawyers to help in the defence of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra charged with dereliction of duty for her failure to stop damages to the state caused by the rice pledging scheme estimated at about 500 billion baht.