Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed an order today for the formation of an anti-corruption board, led by himself, as a part of the process for Thailand’s accession to membership of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2028.
The anti-corruption board, officially named the Anti-Corruption Coordinating Committee, comprises Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt and Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat as deputy chairmen and committee members, including the attorney-general, secretaries-general of the Council of State, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, the national police chief and the ombudsman.
The innovation in this high-profile anti-graft board is that leaders of the private sector, namely the presidents of the Thai Bankers Association, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade and heads of the Thailand Development and Research Institute (TDRI) and Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, will also sit on the panel.
The board is empowered to promote and support adjustments to the working practices of the public sector, including the migration of the bureaucracy to digital systems. It can also order state agencies to submit documentation or other evidence as required.
The creation of this new anti-corruption body follows concerns, recently raised by the private sector, over the endemic and ever rising levels of corruption in government bureaucracy, which poses a real threat to doing business in the country by bona fide businessmen and to the economy.
The private sector also presented a list of the top ten most corrupt state agencies, with the Department of Pollution Control at the top.
