The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is not empowered to exclude any senior officials from the requirement to declare their assets, but it may consider extending the period for declaration probably by another 30 days, EC chairman Pol Gen Watcharapol Prasarnratchakit said this morning.
He explained that the additional time to be given for the declaration of assets and liabilities was intended to allow university council members to prepare themselves and, at the same time, to give time for the universities in question to find replacements.
He said the NACC had sent representatives to explain to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam and vice president of the National Legislative Assembly who have expressed concern with the NACC’s announcement of assets declaration requirement.
Dr Wissanu earlier said that the requirement for assets declaration would cause paperwork burden. Several members of university councils have threatened to quit as they see the new requirement as an unnecessary burden.
Unlike the old NACC law which empowered the anti-graft commission to be selective in deciding who should be required to declare assets, Pol Gen Watchapol said the new
NACC law did not give such power to the commission “and hence our duty is to announce that all senior officials must declare their assets”.
He said that amending the announcement did not depend on whether any university council members would quit or not. “Whether to resign or not depends on the judgment of each individual council member,” he said, adding that extending the period for assets declaration would give time for council members to consider whether to quit or to stay on.
The NACC is due to meet tomorrow to discuss the announcement and about the possibility of extending the period of declaration. But Watcharapol said the meeting would not be conclusive within a single day.
