Thammasat Study : Lavish Campaigns 'cause Corrupti

[Baaksida]

THAMMASAT STUDY : Lavish campaigns 'cause corruption'

Published on Nov 30 , 2004 (The Nation)

Govt agencies ‘will not be clean as long as political parties outlay huge sums’

The fight against corruption will be an uphill battle as long as political parties spend large amounts to get elected, a Thammasat University academic said yesterday.

“Lavish campaign spending spawns the kind of political influence that condones corruption as a means for party financiers to recover their investment,” Assoc Professor Udom Ratamarit said.

“Under big-money politics, it is virtually impossible to achieve a clean bureaucracy because politicians are destined to exploit bureaucrats as money udders to fatten their pockets,” he said.

Udom was speaking at a seminar organised by the Economic and Social Advisory Council.

The council commissioned a Thammasat University study on graft violations in five key agencies and held the seminar to critique the results. The agencies studied were the Agriculture Extension Department, the Customs Department, the Royal Thai Police, the Highways Department and the Local Administration Department.

The five departments are known to be plagued by graft violations.

Key seminar participants included anti-graft buster Klanarong Chantik, political activist Veera Somkwamkid and Thailand Development Research Institute adviser Nipon Puapongsakorn.

Klanarong urged relevant authorities to publicise the Thammasat study to raise public awareness about corruption.

“If people are made aware of the consequences of corruption springing from policy abuses and conflicts of interest, they will each become a graft buster to smoke out rogue politicians and government officials,” he said.

Veera said many legal counsellors employed by the government have betrayed their profession and devised loopholes for graft.

“Some ministers have been appointed to their positions in spite of tainted records and a number of senior government officials have been able to clear their names after facing strong evidence of graft violations,” he said. Nipon suggested closer scrutiny of government procurement, law enforcement and tax collection agencies, which he said spawn corruption.

The Thammasat study calls for the establishment of a witness protection programme for informants in graft violation cases. It said customs and tax rules should be transparent and simplified to pre-empt demands for kick-backs.

Vice laws should be reviewed as they seem to spur police corruption instead of wiping it out. And bodies such as the Law Society of Thailand should also be involved to ensure clean bidding for mega projects, it said.