Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin yesterday pledged to find out how 50 million baht in compensation for tobacco farmers in Phetchabun went missing.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon to investigate the missing money, which has yet to be claimed by tobacco farmers in Phetchabun.
Asked about it, Mr Somsak said: “Is the money really missing?”
Mr Somsak said it does not seem likely that money meant to compensate tobacco farmers would go missing.
He refused to reply to further questions and asked reporters to take the matter to Deputy Finance Minister Santi Prompat instead.
Mr Somsak said tobacco is cultivated in many provinces such as Sukhothai, Phetchabun, Chiang Mai and other provinces along the Mekong River.
Asked if Gen Prawit gave any instructions, Mr Somsak said: “I have nothing to do with the matter.”
He pledged to help coordinate with state agencies on the matter, despite the incident not occurring under his jurisdiction. Few other details were available.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said Gen Prayut was concerned about tobacco farmers in Phetchabun, so at Tuesday’s meeting he instructed cabinet members to look into the matter.
Mr Anucha said the cabinet on April 19 approved an annual expenditure bill to allocate an emergency budget of 160 million baht to be used as compensation for tobacco farmers.
This was due to a decline in tobacco income stemming from the tobacco tax structure during the growing season of 2019-2020.
There were 14,292 farmers who were listed.
Some 125 million baht allocated by the Budget Bureau and Tobacco Authority of Thailand already had been given to 12,936 farmers who met the criteria. The rest was later returned to the government.