Educational institutes should play an important role in instilling and teaching people about honesty, says Niwatchai Kasemmongkol, secretary general of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
“Being informed about honesty since childhood will effectively help create consciousness about the value of honesty,” Niwatchai says in an exclusive interview.
The situation concerning corrupt practices by those in the political circle, government agencies, and the private sector are still worrisome, he adds. NACC has made its best efforts to solve the problems, both in terms of prevention and suppression.
The Thai Constitution of B.E 2017 (2560) stipulates that solving corruption is the duty of all the people and that the state must promote and support the public to have knowledge of and understand corruption.
The Constitution also sets down that this problem must be included in the national strategy so as to be able to solve it in a sustainable manner.
“I believe that one of the most important ways to solve the problems is to intervene at the right point and when corruption occurs in a government agency, junior officials who learn about it do not participate in the activity,” he says.
With corruption rampant in the country, the NACC needs the participation of the public and government officials who witness corruption. “We would not know about corruption if they do not inform us by filing complaints with us,” he says.
In the past, junior government officials who acted as whistleblowers on malfeasance in their units might not feel safe and could be persecuted by their superiors.
“However, today we have an organic law on prevention and suppression on misconduct. The Act, B.E 2561 (2018), stipulates several measures to protect such whistleblowers.”
In a case where a junior official is involved in the corruption but decides to report the wrongdoings, he or she would not face either criminal or disciplinary charges and would be treated as a witness. A whistleblower can also be rewarded, Niwatchai says.
If necessary, NACC’s protection programme is ready to give protection to the official and his/her family. Such protection would include allowances, name change, and relocation.
The protection measures are aimed to create confidence and bravery in a whistleblower who reports graft. However, he/she could be prosecuted if he/she fails to meet the conditions or changes his/her testimony.
Niwatchai cited the manipulation of the district chief examinations in 2009 as an example of the NACC’s investigation and provision of protection for whistleblowers.
“In 2009, our investigation and collection of evidence showed that violations were happening in the selection process. At first, no official dared to testify against any senior government official but eventually ten examinees agreed to do so. Their testimonies led to the jailing of the then director general of the Provincial Administration Department and senior officials.
However the bureaucratic system had frozen the careers of the ten examinees, their levels were not raised, their salaries were put on hold and they were not allowed to take the district chief exam again.
“NACC then reported this to the prime minister which resulted in the Office of Civil Service Commission resolving to promote them to the position of district chief,” Niwatchai says.
Responding to a statement that only small fish are arrested in corruption cases, Niwatchai pointed out that small fish are easily caught but catching the big fish needs time and good bait as well as participation from all sides.
He revealed there was a case where the NACC found two politicians committing ethical misconduct as political position holders and the cases went to court, which ruled against them. They were then removed from their positions.
He also talked about NACC’s investigation into the alleged massive corruption in the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, saying the arrest of the most senior official was the result of cooperation between many agencies.
“The laws today are severe and we have caught not only small but also big fish. However, we do not hold a press conference to announce the arrests. In the future, NACC is planning to reveal the progress of its investigation to the public. This will allow the complainant, the public, and other parties to jointly examine the NACC’s work.”
He also mentioned the criticism that the National Parks department under the NACC’s probe had obtained a high score of 85 marks and Grade A in NACC’s Integrity and Transparency Assessment (ITA).
“ITA is just a preliminary framework assessment of three aspects of work conducted by both insiders and outsiders who use the service and disclose information on issues such as procurement.”
“ITA is not a tool to indicate who acts in good faith or is corrupt. It’s just a general assessment. However, in the future, NACC will reveal the details of the scores so that people would know through the assessment which aspects of an agency scored high and which aspects scored low, including whether it has problems in procurement or not.”
Apart from having a mechanism for the prevention and suppression of corruption in the government sector, NACC also has rules for prosecuting private sector firms involved in bribing government officials and those working in international agencies. The rules are issued to make private sector firms aware that they could be prosecuted if they are involved in corruption.
NACC has also set up Anti-Bribery Advisory Service (ABAS) Center to provide academic advice, knowledge, and guidelines to the private sector about offering bribes to government officials so that it can put appropriate and effective anti-bribery measures in place that meet the international standard.
The NACC secretary general adds that Thailand has ratified and become a member of the UN Convention against Corruption 2003 (UNCAC), and OECD’s Convention on Combating Foreign Bribery in International Business Transactions. “NACC’s rules are in line with the Conventions,” he says.
He is confident if the administration and policymakers are serious about corruption suppression, the country’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) would be better.
Vietnam’s CPI is higher than that of Thailand’s as its leaders are serious about prosecuting those involved in corruption.
