Parliament, “Natcha” reveals “CPF” skipped the meeting of the Subcommittee on Solving the Black-chinned Tilapia Problem, Round 2, sent documents to clarify but nothing to add, did not confirm that the private sector is at fault because the fish DNA was incomplete, will invite the Council of State to give an opinion on legal action, urges the company to use the parliamentary stage to clarify its innocence.
Mr. Natcha Boonchaiinsawat, MP for Bangkok, Move Forward Party, as Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Studying Causes and Solutions, including Impacts from the Importation of Black-chinned Tilapia, gave an interview before the Subcommittee meeting today. He stated that after the committee invited a representative from Charoen Pokphand Group (CPF), Mr. Premsak Vanichsunthon, to clarify both times, it turned out that at 9:00 a.m., he received a document requesting leave to clarify without stating a reason, along with additional documents to clarify information, most of which were consistent with the informa
tion received by the Department of Fisheries on Tuesday. The content was only an explanation that various documents had been submitted to the Department of Fisheries, but nothing new had been added. Therefore, he would like to ask the private company that the area of ??the House of Representatives would be the place to clarify the sincerity to the people the most, and it would be better than giving statements to some media outlets, which still raises many questions.
The subcommittee has done its utmost. When the committee requested cooperation or information but did not receive it, it must proceed according to the facts that have appeared. The information that is already reliable from the government sector is the Fisheries Department. Next week, a representative from the Council of State will be invited to give an opinion on the legal issues that the government will take against private companies or those involved. Information will be sent separately for each issue so that the Fisheries Department can take l
egal action, including inviting agencies that can assess the damage caused to the ecosystem.
When asked whether the private company must be responsible for this offense, Mr. Natcha stated that if we look at the information from the Department of Fisheries, it will show that the import of the private company is in accordance with all 4 conditions, but it is still not possible to conclude the offense because the genetic material of this type of fish is only available for 2017 and 2022, but 2011 is still missing. We can only assume that it is wrong. However, the subcommittee for inspecting the genetic control book between 2007 and 2017 did not accept or provide samples of both jars of fish. The Department of Fisheries has more than 5,000 jars of fish samples, and it is impossible that the flood in 2011 would have caused the disappearance of both jars of black-chinned tilapia.
However, on August 1, 2017, 9 Fisheries Department officials requested to randomly inspect the research center, but were told that all t
he imported fish had died. They therefore used a net to inspect the reservoir and found 10 black-sided tilapia, approximately 7 centimeters in size. According to villagers, they estimated that they were about a year old. Now, the question arises as to why, after the fish had died and the research had ended, there were still 10 fish in the reservoir. Since 2017, there has been no progress on the legal case. Government agencies should not allow the operation to continue in 2024.
There was a discussion between the opposition and the government to set up an urgent verbal motion to amend the law to give the committee the power to request information for various studies. There will be a team of 13 people from the Move Forward Party preparing information and evidence to debate this law and submit it to the Cabinet for consideration to solve the problem. At most, at this time, we cannot wait for people with a conscience to take responsibility. This amendment proposal will show the government’s sincerity in solving t
he problem.
Source: Thai News Agency