Angry Farmers Demand Answers as 100 Million Baht Goes Missing from Agricultural Cooperative

(CTN News) – On Friday, about 200 farmers from a cooperative in Chiang Mai stormed the Chang Phueak Police Station to demand answers about the whereabouts of 100 million baht.

The San Pa Tong Agricultural Cooperative has reported that over 100 million baht (US$2.8 million) placed with a “reputable bank” has mysteriously disappeared.

Authorities will attempt to reclaim the 100 million baht stolen from farmers.

There were three efforts at mediation between the farmers and the bank before they finally resorted to calling the police.

Around two hundred farmers took over the police station until Pol Col Kittipong Petchmunee, the station’s chief, consented to support them. What he stated was…

According to the San Pa Tong Agricultural Cooperative, the bank has strangely misplaced 100 million baht belonging to farmers. We will start looking into this right now and will respond accordingly.

Two hundred members of the cooperative, led by president Chaiwised Deesuwan and manager Suchitra Mano, traveled into the city on Friday to investigate a complaint lodged the previous Sunday. He reported that the 4,000 Thai Baht in the cooperative’s bank account had been depleted.

There were a lot of missed opportunities.

Chaiwised expressed concern that the cooperative’s loss of money might affect around 10,000 of its members.

In a conversation with the cooperative two years ago, Suchitra mentioned that a “reputable bank” had offered a 3.8% interest rate on deposits. She explained that the cooperative transferred 70 million baht to the bank since its members would benefit from the increased interest rate.

She added that the cooperative had not even considered the possibility that the farmers’ 100 million baht would vanish. We’re talking about a major, well-known bank here.

Given the interest rate, Suchitra says the deposit of about 70 million baht should have increased to around 104 million baht by now.

Around 10,000 members of the cooperative, Chaiwised estimates, may be severely affected by the missing funds.

And he was adamant that there had been no withdrawals from the cooperative’s account. The cooperative missed many chances because it had to send all of its money to the bank.

The bank has accepted a hundred million baht in loans to farmers.

The bank has allegedly accepted responsibility for the farmers’ 100 million baht but has established no time frame for recovering the funds.

Chaiwised stated the bank has not yet provided any information regarding the disappearance of the funds.

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