Rice exporters have urged Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong to investigate the recent release of rice to Indonesia after only two trading firms were allowed to participate in the bidding.

The Public Warehouse Organisation (PWO) announced yesterday that it had decided to sell 300,000 tonnes of rice to Indonesia. But only two traders had an opportunity to join in the bidding, which was done secretly. They were Siam Indica, which won the bid, and Nakhon Sawan Rice Trading.

Siam Indica is known to have had a close relationship with President Agri Trading, once the country's biggest rice exporter but now bankrupt. President Agri Trading won a bid for a big lot of rice from the Commerce Ministry in 2007 when Wattana Muangsook, a now-banned Thai Rak Thai politician, was minister.

A source said exporters had called for Kittiratt to investigate the recent bidding urgently, since it could lead to bribery and corruption by unscrupulous traders and officials.

A source from the Commerce Ministry said the government had to release the rice in secret to avoid causing the market price to fall.

Previously, there was a report that the ministry had released 90,000 tonnes of rice below the market price, citing that those stocks had been damaged during the floods. However, sources said the rice was still of good quality and the government had lost a large amount of revenue through this action.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet recently approved a Commerce Ministry proposal to appoint Pol Major Sarawut Sakulmeerit as the new director of the PWO. Sarawut was a member of the disbanded People's Power Party and a defendant in the case in which Duang Yoobamrung, the youngest son of current Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, was charged with murdering Crime Suppression Division detective Senior Sgt-Major Suwichai Rodwimut in Bangkok in 2001.

Sarawut was at that time charged with obstruction of justice in the fatal shooting. However, the Criminal Court later acquitted both men and the public prosecutor did not appeal.

Source: The Nation