Legislators back down over publishing politicians’ complete assets

By KASAMAKORN CHANWANPEN 
THE NATION 

 

 

AFTER EXTENSIVE criticism, legislators have backtracked and amended the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) organic bill, stipulating that the agency publish complete information regarding the assets and liabilities of political office holders as well as high-ranking officials, including the Constitutional Court judges, said charter drafter Pattara Khampitak yesterday.

A previous clause required the NACC to publish only a brief report about its scrutiny of assets, prompting widespread criticism that it would weaken the public’s role in checking politicians and government officials. 

 

In a public seminar organised by Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT) yesterday, Pattara said the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), which was responsible for the draft, did not intend to weaken the battle against corruption. 

 

However, the previous stipulation stemmed from the CDC’s belief that the law had to fit with new and changing circumstances, he said.

 

Pattara Khampitak

 

Publishing comprehensive information would not be entirely fair to people involved, Pattara said, adding that publicly available information had been exploited and got people into trouble unnecessarily. 

 

Additionally, the NACC could not remove published information from circulation, which would be illegal, he said. 

 

That was not fair for individuals who had to declare their assets, so the stipulation had allowed them to keep some details private, the legislator said. 

 

NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon said it was unnecessary to publish the entire detailed lists of assets and liabilities, citing similar cases involving trouble associated with reporting. 

 

Worawit Sukboon

 

He added that public participation in scrutinising assets would not be diminished regardless of the completeness of reports. The public and the media could still monitor behaviour that indicated an individual was concealing unusual wealth and assets, he said. 

 

Jermsak Pinthong, a former legislator who previously exposed NACC officials attempting to raise their own salaries, said he still preferred that exhaustive lists be made available to the public to ensure transparency.

 

Given his history with the NACC, Jermsak said he did not trust the body. There were no guarantees that officials would not turn out to be biased and help conceal assets, he said.

 

The critic said politicians and senior officials had to make sacrifices to hold the privileges associated with their positions, and privacy and other rights were included. 

 

Jermsak Pinthong

 

Sanoh Sukcharoen, an editor at the investigative news agency Isara, said in the past many corruption cases had been exposed because the NACC had published asset lists.

 

All the information was valuable and could expose corrupt politicians, he said. 

 

For instance, Isara once exposed a politician hiding assets after investigating the address listed as his home and found that people holding assets were the politician’s servants, Sanoh said.

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30332846

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-30

Let the man-child's head be first on the block. I would love to hear him try an dexplain where he got his money.

Quote

Publishing comprehensive information would not be entirely fair to people involved, Pattara said, adding that publicly available information had been exploited and got people into trouble unnecessarily. 

Oh, it would not be entirely fair to people involved?

And Thailand is well known for its "fairness", so better bring this in line also.

 

Pathetic reasoning, especially if there are people sitting in that same room telling how they caught cases of corruption and graft in the past based on that list.

One more piece of evidence this government represents corruption, not getting rid of corruption.

If you want to get rid of corruption, then all involved must be transparent.

If not, all this is a complete waste of time.

The troughs open, get your snouts in.

Remember part of the justification for the military takeover was to be ruthless in the clampdown on corruption.

 

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm.

27 minutes ago, jayboy said:

Remember part of the justification for the military takeover was to be ruthless in the clampdown on corruption.

 

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm.

Isnt that on the banned list? Would not suprise me in the least..because it pretty much reads like a playbook.

5 hours ago, jayboy said:

Remember part of the justification for the military takeover was to be ruthless in the clampdown on corruption.

 

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm.

 

And they are selectively ruthlessly clamping down on corruption