Corruption-thailand:

[steverino]

CORRUPTION-THAILAND:

Government Beyond Accountability Looms

Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 10 (IPS) - Four months after he was re-elected by an unprecedented majority, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra faces a corruption scandal the outcome of which could define the tone of his second term in office.

The question this has given rise to is: will Thaksin and his party become absolute rulers?

Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai, TRT) party has sufficient seats in the 500-member parliament to avoid being subject to a censure motion by the opposition Democrat party. Such motions launched by the opposition have traditionally served as a pivotal mechanism to check the power of the government.

The current edge enjoyed by the TRT -- it has 377 seats in the legislature -- means that for the first time in this South-east Asian nation's young democracy a governing party will be above this parliamentary form of accountability.

''It is a very dangerous situation,'' a professor of political science from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''We have never experienced a government like this before, which is beyond censure.''

The smugness that such political security brings was evident all this week as Thaksin and a senior government minister declared that there was no trail of bribes paid during the purchase of expensive security equipment for the country's new airport.

On Tuesday, Thaksin told reporters that a report by a government-appointed team to investigate the airport security-scanners scandal would exonerate government officials and politicians of the alleged corruption charge.

And when the contents of that 800-page report were revealed Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngarm supported its conclusions by making public a letter from the U.S. Justice Department. The letter stated that there was no evidence of kickbacks to Thai officials during the sale of 26 CTX9000 explosive-detection scanners.

Yet critics of the government are not convinced, since a fundamental issue at the heart of this scandal remains unresolved: the discrepancies in the prices of the equipment offered by InVision, the U.S. supplier of the equipment, and the amount officials at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport paid to Patriot Business Consultants Co. Ltd., a Thai firm that brokered the deal.

InVision had offered the 26 security machines for 35.8 million U.S. dollars to Patriot, which resold the equipment to the new airport's authorities for 46 million dollars.

''There has been some price rigging. The government has still to provide answers why there is a difference in price,'' Nirand Pithakwatchara, a ranking member on the Senate committee conducting an independent investigation into the scanner deal, told IPS.

''The U.S. Justice Department may have no evidence of corruption on their side, but we have a lot of evidence about what happened in Thailand,'' he added. ''This case is far from over. Something went wrong and the system must be exposed.''

Such pressure from the Senate could help strengthen the only available alternative for the Thai public to hold the Thaksin administration accountable in this scandal. That is to launch a campaign to secure at least 50,000 signatures to introduce a motion in parliament aimed at impeaching Suriya Jungrungreankit, the minister of transport, whose name has been linked to this alleged corrupt deal.

This political climate of an administration not subject to checks and balances has been made worse by the collapse of the country's only independent anti-graft body. In late May, the nine-member National Counter Corruption Commission was found guilty by the Supreme Court's criminal division for illegally awarding themselves a pay rise.

For such an abuse of power, the nine anti-graft commissioners received a two-year suspended jail term.

The airport equipment scandal, which has dominated the headlines since late April, is the latest in a long list of corrupt deals that have plagued this country. Last September, for instance, an anti-graft activist charged that politicians and state officials had pocketed up to 300 billion dollars in bribes over a decade.

The new airport being built east of Bangkok at a cost of 3.1 billion dollars has been among the mega-projects tainted with corruption, among which were questionable land deals.

Thailand's police have also helped themselves to illegal funds, including 475 million dollars from gambling dens, 275 million dollars from an underground lottery and 8.5 million dollars from massage parlours, according to a study by an academic from Chulalongkorn University.

Consequently Thailand has earned low scores in the annual 'Corruption Perception Index' of Transparency International, the global anti-graft watchdog. Over the past three years, Thailand has received scores between 3.2 and 3.6 on a scale that places the most corrupt countries close to ''0'' and least corrupt countries close to ''10.''

Yet at the same time, the arrest of senior political figures for corruption here is rare. Last October, a former public health minister was arrested a year after he was found guilty of a bribery case involving overpriced medicines. That was viewed as an exception by the local media.

But the public is concerned about such rampant corruption as reflected in regular opinion polls conducted here. One survey at the beginning of this month by the Suan Dusit pollsters revealed that corruption was the second leading area of the Thai public's concern, after the escalating violence in the south of the country.

Yet the chances of holding members of the government linked to corruption accountable have all but vanished under the current parliament, said the political scientist from Chulalongkorn University. ''This first major scandal for Thaksin in his new term will reveal what we can expect in the next four years.''

He fears absolute rule, given the aversion Thaksin displayed during his first four-year term (from January 2001) towards any form of accountability. ''He used the Thai Rak Thai's majority then to avoid censure motions against his cabinet ministers,'' said the academic.

(END/2005)

[Artisi]

Then it comes to corruptions, i.e., were any bribes paid - it depends on the question. Were are bribes paid to the US - answer no - were any bribes paid within Thailand - well we haven't really asked that question because we're not sure of the answer.

Simple - don't ask the right questions if you want the right answers.

[kat]

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think."

And a tragic comedy for those who do both.

[Rumpole]

On Tuesday, Thaksin told reporters that a report by a government-appointed team to investigate the airport security-scanners scandal would exonerate government officials and politicians of the alleged corruption charge.

(END/2005)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The "government-appointed team" had better "exonerate government officials and politicians" if they know what's good for them.

Ruritania.

[penzman]

When will they buy overpriced corruption scanners to be installed in parliament?

[mnoorsapl]

This political climate of an administration not subject to checks and balances has been made worse by the collapse of the country's only independent anti-graft body. In late May, the nine-member National Counter Corruption Commission was found guilty by the Supreme Court's criminal division for illegally awarding themselves a pay rise.

For such an abuse of power, the nine anti-graft commissioners received a two-year suspended jail term.

(END/2005)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

GUILTY

[Artisi]

If it looks like a duck - it could be a duck, if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it must be a duck.

Wouldn't the same apply;

If it looks like a bribe - it could be a bribe, if it looks like a bribe and sounds like a bribe, it must be a bribe.

It never ceases to amaze me how the politicians and law makers pussy-foot around in Thailand - if "they" took bribes for this project - just come out and say so - jail a few, sack a few and clean up the mess. Unfortunately someone might lose face or their 3rd cousins ex-boy friend might be involved and we can't lose face or involve any of the family - irrespective of the cost. Unlike the simple minded toll collector who was jailed for a 20 years or some similar stupid amount of time for ripping off a few hundred baht from the tool collection.

But we must remember TIT.

[Camelot]

Artisi

I think the scapego...err, toll collector, got 45 years for redistributing some coins. That'll teach him.