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BANGKOK Kyle Lauletta Jersey , Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Thailand is found to have suffered heavy losses due to alleged corruption over a populist rice program carried out during the time of deposed premier Yingluck Shinawatra over the past few years, announced a noted academic on Wednesday.


According to Nipon Puapongsakorn of Thailand Development Research Institute, the rice subsidy program, implemented from 2011 until last year by the Pheu Thai (for Thais) Party-led government B.J. Hill Jersey , had allegedly incurred an estimated 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in losses, largely due to corrupt officials and highly- profiteering rice dealers, hiddenly connected with politicians in the government.


Of that sum, no less than 2.8 billion U.S. dollars had allegedly slipped into the hands of those opportunist rice dealers said to have been closely linked with corrupt politicians Lorenzo Carter Jersey , Nipon said.


The TDRI academic disclosed that the Yingluck government had injected some 33 billion U.S. dollars in funding into the populist program under which government agencies had bought "every grain" of rice from farmers throughout the country for an average of 500 U.S. dollars a ton.


The money which had bought the rice over the past few years had been borrowed from state-owned banks, including the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and the Government Savings Bank.


Nevertheless, the farmers had earned some 9.9 billion U.S. dollars in sales of their rice to the government, which had stored the crops at rented warehouses in the provinces.


Of a total of 54 million tons of rice bought under the Yingluck government's rice program Landon Collins Jersey , 7.8 million tons had allegedly been prone to corruption under government-to-government purchase agreements worth about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, Nipon said.


Certain rice dealers, hiddenly linked with corrupt politicians, had made undue gains in the government-to-government rice dealings under which the buying countries Ereck Flowers Jersey , the amounts of the purchased rice and prices were not identified to the public, the academic said.


He did not name names involved in the graft scandals over the rice program on which the TDRI had already conducted in-depth research.


He also alleged that nearly 3 million tons of rice had been stolen from the government-rented warehouses for hush-hush sell- offs by corrupt officials in collusion with opportunist rice dealers.


Nipon's press conference over the issue apparently followed a delay by the Office of Attorney General (OAG) to lodge a lawsuit in court against Yingluck on duty negligence charges as earlier alleged by the National Anti-Corruption Commission involving the populist rice program.


The former lady leader who had been accused of turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the alleged corruption contended that she had never been involved in the alleged graft scandals and had earlier instructed the authorities to investigate them.


But the anti-graft agency might probably file the lawsuit against her if the OAG eventually failed to do so, according to Wicha Mahakhun, one of the NACC commissioners.


Former legislators on the opposition bloc had repeatedly criticized the Yingluck