Customs Tackles Graft And Corruption

[george]

Customs tackles graft

BANGKOK: The Customs Department is restructuring its tariff-collection system in a bid to end under-the-table deals. The move is expected to generate an extra Bt100 million a month.

Customs Department director-general Chavalit Sethameteekul said new measures would be introduced next month to end the long-standing practice of bribing officials to clear customs or speed up the procedures, although he did not elaborate on what those measures would be.

"The department will revamp the working process to remove the under-the-table-money tradition," he said.

Chavalit said the department was also working with Krungthai Bank to improve the department's transparency.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has approved the idea, he added.

Chutchavarn Sriwachirawat, a member of the board of directors of the Federation of Thai Industries' export promotion committee, said that if the problem could be solved effectively, competitiveness among Thai entrepreneurs would increase.

It would also speed up imports and exports, he said.

Chavalit added that the free-trade agreements the government had signed with many countries would result in less tariff income.

-- The Nation 2003-12-10