Agriculture dept chief faces probe over bribery accusation

Minister orders transfer following complaint from exporters about durian testing

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Narumon Pinyosinwat on Friday promised an investigation into the action of Rapeepat Chansriwong, director-general of the Agriculture Department, following an allegation of bribe-taking in the testing of BY2 substance in durians for export.

Rapeepat was transferred to an inactive position at the ministry’s headquarters on Wednesday, according to an order signed by the ministry’s permanent secretary Prayoon Inskul.

The transfer came after a group of durian exporters lodged a complaint with the agriculture minister, accusing Rapeepat of taking bribes from a private company claiming to be hired by the department to test the Basic Yellow 2 (BY2) substance in durians.

The complainants said the company demanded that durian exporters transfer testing fee to its online account, even though the Agriculture Department had yet to finalise the certified service provider to perform the test.

Narumon said on Friday that an investigation had been launched to get to the bottom of the issue, adding that the ministry's inspector-general, Ing-Orn Panyakit, would fill the position of Agriculture Department director-general in the meantime.

The issue of BY2 substance in durians made national headlines last month, when the Agriculture Department had to bury over 64 tonnes of durian after being rejected by China for contamination with yellow dye.

BY2 is a dye used to artificially enhance the colour of durians. It is suspected that some exporters dipped the durians in the dye to make them appear more appealingly yellow.



The department announced suspension of the export licences of 26 durian wholesalers responsible for shipping the contaminated durians to China, adding that a new regulation will be introduced, requiring all durians exported from Thailand to undergo laboratory testing for the dye.

Each year Thailand exports an average of 140-billion-baht worth of durians to China, where the “King of Fruits” from Thailand dominates 57% of the durian market.

(2025/03/14-00:00)