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Thailand: Govt Pressed for Response to Anti-Graft Demands |
| Source: |
nationmultimedia.com |
| Source Date: |
Wednesday, February 01, 2012 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
Thailand |
| Created: |
Jan 31, 2012 |
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"The government should show its sincerity in cooperating with the network and follow our outline for closely monitoring huge government spending under flood-relief measures, as the projects could lead to big losses if there's any corruption," ACN chairman Pramon Sutivong said yesterday.
The network also found that corruption awareness was still very low.
A survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce showed that the corruption perception index went up slightly from 3.5 points in November to 3.6 points in December.
Despite the slight improvement, the corruption situation is very dangerous, since the index was much lower than the average, Pramon said.
To get rid of corruption, the private sector needs closer cooperation from the government, he said.
The network submitted two letters on December 20 and last Thursday to the prime minister describing three steps the government must take to keep track of its huge budget on the country's rehabilitation, but has received no answer to its proposals.
The ACN will wait for a reply for a couple weeks, then call for a meeting with the government, as the first rehabilitation project will involve a huge budget of at least Bt17 billion.
If the government does not cooperate with business, the country could lose a huge amount of money to graft or unscrupulous officials, funds that should have gone towards solving the flood problem.
The ACN's outline called for the government to disclose information to the public clearly on procurements so that every section of society could easily observe the government's actions.
Next, the government should launch its own audit or investigation unit to double-check spending.
Finally, the Cabinet should give full authority to the National Anti-Corruption Commission to release information and set a median price for state bids and procurement to use as a benchmark for keeping an eye on future corruption.
To build awareness, the network has set up its own watchdog project to recruit volunteers to help the anti-graft network and monitor any corrupt activities, focusing on the government's spending on flood prevention and rehabilitation.
Initially, the network targets 1,000 volunteers from the public and private sectors and the media to join the project. It will hold a training session for 500 volunteers on March 1.
Thanavath Phonvichai, director of the university's Economic and Business Forecasting Centre, said corruption in Thailand was getting worse.
Corruption has caused huge losses on each project from the government or private sector.
The average loss due to corruption has jumped from 10-15 per cent of project value to 25-30 per cent.
The loss per project is likely to rise to 40 per cent because of the tepid concern shown towards the graft menace by responsible agencies and careless officials, he said.
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Thailand: Govt Pressed for Response to Anti-Graft Demands The Anti-Corruption Network a watchdog formed by the private sector has urged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to respond to its demand for an end to graft after it submitted an outline for solving the problem more than a month ago
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