Marine Parks In Thailand's South 'A Huge Source Of Graft'

[webfact]

DIVING BAN

Marine parks in South 'a huge source of graft'

By Janjira Pongrai,

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Officials pocket Bt1 billion a year in admission fees

Operators of diving tours and tour guides have exposed corruption at marine national parks in the Andaman Sea.

Graft in the admission fee system is believed to have cost the government Bt1 billion in lost revenue each year.

"The problem has been going on for many years already," the owner of a famous diving-tour company in Phuket said yesterday, on condition of anonymity.

He said Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island attracted between 50 and 100 boats a day from November 1 to May 30. This meant the number of tourists could be as many as 1,000 per site per day.

The admission fee was Bt400 per person but corrupt officials offered a 30-per-cent discount if operators did not ask for receipts.

"We have alerted relevant authorities before but this corrupt practice continues."

Without the corruption, he said money from admission fees could have been spent on proper management of natural resources.

Some 15 diving sites in seven marine national parks in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand were closed to tourists last Friday because of coral bleaching on popular reefs.

A tour guide, who also spoke on condition that his name was not revealed, said he felt bad about the graft in admission fees at the national parks.

"But I had to do what the tour operators and these officials demanded." He described how park officials refused once to let his tourists get out of the boat because they were unhappy with the amount of money put inside an envelope prepared by the tour operator.

"I had to put more cash into that envelope," he disclosed.

An informed source at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry admitted corruption existed at dive attractions in the South.

"If you look at records, you will find that no one can serve as the chiefs of the marine national parks in the Andaman Sea for long. They get transferred out pretty soon because of complaints filed against them," the source said.

The source said politicians overseeing the ministry usually sent corrupt officials there because the marine parks could generate a lot of money.

"Some officials have offered to pay between Bt5 million and Bt10 million in instalments to politicians for top posts at the parks," the source revealed.

-- The Nation 2011-01-25

[Buchholz]

Graft in the admission fee system is believed to have cost the government Bt1 billion in lost revenue each year.

In addition to corruption of the lost revenue to the Parks Department in this situation, there's also obvious corruption in the Parks Department with the revenue it does receive, with probably Koh Samet being one of the more glaring examples.

Samet receives a multiple of the total visitors destined for Phi Phi and there never seems to be any improvements despite receiving the the billions that are collected in admission fees.

[Jogden]

A bit of tit for tat going on now......

[swillowbee]

... (yawn) ... hard to get too excited ... "________________ in Thailand, a Huge Source of Graft!" ... you fill in the blank ... any proper noun will do ... mmmm ... well ... most all nouns will do.

Edited January 25, 2011 by swillowbee

[Valentine]

Until the kingpins are arrested & locked up for a long time we will continue to get these headlines. Problem is the kingpins are just too high up. If the graft & corruption in this country was cut by 50% & spread amongst the populace it would raise the standard of living quite considerably & those still collecting the rest can continue to enjoy good gains in their wealth portfolios. The lower levels of corruption are only tolerated because they are condoned by the next tier of authority which in turn is condoned by the next tier & so on. There are still many good people in this country but they remain silent.

[saintofsilence]

"An informed source at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry admitted corruption existed at dive attractions in the South.

"If you look at records, you will find that no one can serve as the chiefs of the marine national parks in the Andaman Sea for long. They get transferred out pretty soon because of complaints filed against them," the source said.

The source said politicians overseeing the ministry usually sent corrupt officials there because the marine parks could generate a lot of money.

"Some officials have offered to pay between Bt5 million and Bt10 million in instalments to politicians for top posts at the parks," the source revealed"

It is time no for this Government to take all accusations and complaints like this and investigate fully and start setting this country on the right track by prosecuting every corrupt politician , cop and other official involved and jailing them ,so what if there is thousands involved just replace them.

The government need to send the strongest message possible to show if they are fair dinkum about ruling out corruption.

[jayjay0]

"An informed source at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry admitted corruption existed at dive attractions in the South.

"If you look at records, you will find that no one can serve as the chiefs of the marine national parks in the Andaman Sea for long. They get transferred out pretty soon because of complaints filed against them," the source said.

The source said politicians overseeing the ministry usually sent corrupt officials there because the marine parks could generate a lot of money.

"Some officials have offered to pay between Bt5 million and Bt10 million in instalments to politicians for top posts at the parks," the source revealed"

It is time no for this Government to take all accusations and complaints like this and investigate fully and start setting this country on the right track by prosecuting every corrupt politician , cop and other official involved and jailing them ,so what if there is thousands involved just replace them.

The government need to send the strongest message possible to show if they are fair dinkum about ruling out corruption.

What you say has a lot of merit.

The problem being that the government has a Nation to run they can not just stop that and clean up corruption today.

Where are the people who claim that there is no freedom of speech here in Thailand.

No wonder they say that they don't read articles like this one. What a bunch of wanke_rs.

[Deeral]

If you relate this to the "closure" of dive sites - you begin to see how the cards are stack against any moves toward conservation or any form of organisation are stacked

[zaZa9]

While I dont disagree with any of the above, surely there will be a loss of income for those officials designated the control over the banned sites.

What will they do for a crust?

Are they being punished or just transferred?

Whoever mentioned Samet is spot on, that island just degrades more every time I visit....

[zaZa9]

Mentally searching for solutions to the problem....would offices that accept credit card payments with a 10% discount , or the like,for using them, help reduce the corruption?

[backfromouterspace]

The admission fee was Bt400 per person but corrupt officials offered a 30-per-cent discount if operators did not ask for receipts.

Looks like the tour operators are making nice money from the scam as I am pretty sure none of the 30% discount will be passed on to tourists.

[OzMick]

Assuming that these dive companies are legitimate businesses, they all should have records of the number of tickets sold over the last few years - 7 years under oz tax law. Collect that data, then ask the National Parks admin to explain the shortfall in funds received. Too easy?

[atyclb]

Interesting that the anonymous tour operator now coming forth does so subsequent to the announced park closures and consequential loss of revenue for him also.

Some have suggested thailand adopt China's approach for corrupt politicians, but if they did, who'd be left to run the country?

Edited January 25, 2011 by atyclb

[Spalpeen]

What many foreigners fail to appreciate is that Thailand has a tradition going back to the middle ages that public officials were not paid. To get a public job of any kind you had to pay someone and then you were expected to support yourself from whatever you could make out of your position. This wasn't corruption, it was just how things were done. Some of the money you made would have to be paid to your boss and so on up the pyramid.

The country now has one foot in the modern world with people like park officials receiving a salary. But the salaries are invariably small and the old system still continues alongside. You could put a stop to this kind of graft overnight if, instead of tour operators handing over cash in exchange for receipts, they paid money to central government in exchange for vouchers. The problem then is that central govt. would then have to increase the salaries of the park officials to make up the drop in their income. Since so many people benefit from this system, up to and including politicians, that's not going to change anytime soon.

[Igor]

"Graft in the admission fee system is believed to have cost the government Bt1 billion in lost revenue each year."

I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you!

[jdk]

reminds me of the 20 visits I have made to the Revenue dept. they collect withholding tax all year long until its in the millions, then if you have a tax loss carryforward they deny the loss carryforward and keep the money. Trying to fight this took years. Baker McKenzie won for a big company last year (20 million Baht +). Ours is not so large.

I offered to point out the names of a couple companies in our industry that I know are not filing a tax return, no tax, no social security, etc. our books are clean and orderly - too farang as it turns out. we lose - no real competition, getting screwed on taxes by the RD because we did file correctly.

And now I get to read this kind of story (again).

Its a miracle Thais can feed themselves, the govt is such a massive waste of time and money.

[tvh13]

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

[outre99]

Graft in the admission fee system is believed to have cost the government Bt1 billion in lost revenue each year.

In addition to corruption of the lost revenue to the Parks Department in this situation, there's also obvious corruption in the Parks Department with the revenue it does receive, with probably Koh Samet being one of the more glaring examples.

Samet receives a multiple of the total visitors destined for Phi Phi and there never seems to be any improvements despite receiving the the billions that are collected in admission fees.

Second that. Koh Samet is continuing to offer less for more. A room that you can get on the mainland for 600-700 will cost more than double on Samet. I wouldn't even recommend trying the 600-700 range on Samet unless you enjoy sleeping with all kinds of creepy critters in a box that's falling apart. The food and drinks are just as outrageously overpriced. And i don't even want to mention the taxi mafia. We stopped going there and instead go to the mainland beaches right across the water like Mae Ramphung beach. It's in the same national park as Koh Samet, with the same soft sand and clean water. But it's never crowded, always affordable, and much easier to get to. The drive from Bkk takes about 2 hours.

Samet is so last year.

[angiud]

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

Yeah, better exploit the many available girls, the lack of rules, the cheap life and the teamoney for the cops.

People living in a country, not their home country, can complain and criticize the mistakes of a Nation and its government,not because they don't like Thailand, but the opposite, they care!

[Samuian]

Karma in it's purest form!

Condoning Corruption, loads of money into the wrong pockets, no money to support wildlife, keep the parks clean, no infrastructure, no controls, damage to wildlife - no more parks... no more income!

Get them and confiscate their illgotten wealth - ALL of it and ALL of them!

And ...ah' yeah, it's not "100s of years ago", we are in the 21. Century, there are laws, guidelines and orders that have to be followed by EVERYONE!

Agree with chinese Method, is only clear signal everyone understands!

Edited January 25, 2011 by Samuian

[jdk]

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

very emotionally intelligent comment.

i guess its because coming from a place that has less corruption and incompetence in society there is a sense that it is not that hard to achieve. apparently it is. or maybe you have not yet had the pleasure of trying to do the right thing only to have it cost you millions of Baht in the end.

but i do agree: living here has its appeals, or else I would not be doing it. i dont sit up nights worrying about it. in fact it only came up today cause of the article. these things have a way of polarizing opinions and you only get to read what is on the mind at the moment.

[Buchholz]

Koh Samet is continuing to offer less for more.

We stopped going there and instead go to the mainland beaches right across the water like Mae Ramphung beach.

[reason1]

Reality is complainers are too lazy or not smart enough to find the Thai ways of doing things and just because it is not their way back home it must be wrong. I would prefer they shut up or ask instead of moan n beach.

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

[newermonkey]

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

Those that complain obviously love the country and only want to see improvements (and draw on their overseas experience). Perhaps you are content taking what "you" want out of it and don't care if the the country goes to the dogs, that's up to you and if you don't care perhaps "you" should go home?

[Igor]

Reality is complainers are too lazy or not smart enough to find the Thai ways of doing things and just because it is not their way back home it must be wrong. I would prefer they shut up or ask instead of moan n beach.

What nonsense.

I don't know where you came from but tell me you didn't complain there?

It's human nature to complain any time something interrupts their activity.

I think I've complained about taxes in every country I've lived. Didn't mean I didn't like it where I was.

I complain about things in Thailand, too. And I love it here.

Back to the original post: So, when the government says X number of people visited these parks, are they underestimating by vast numbers or confused about how much revenue it ought to represent?

[Deeral]

Reality is complainers are too lazy or not smart enough to find the Thai ways of doing things and just because it is not their way back home it must be wrong. I would prefer they shut up or ask instead of moan n beach.

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

How very sad....what a pathetic argument - don't you two know h\ow ignorant that argument is?

[Deeral]

Reality is complainers are too lazy or not smart enough to find the Thai ways of doing things and just because it is not their way back home it must be wrong. I would prefer they shut up or ask instead of moan n beach.

Blah blah blah. People seem to have a lot to say about the government of Thailand. I often find myself wondering why they are here. Based on what I read here here anywhere would be a better place to live. Why the constant complaining?

How very sad....what a pathetic argument - don't you two know h\ow ignorant that argument is?

[asiancup2007]

It's a pity Thailand's incorruptible and progressive Prime Minster couldn't look into this.

Edited January 25, 2011 by asiancup2007

[Deeral]

It's a pity Thailand's incorruptible and progressive Prime Minster couldn't look into this.

Which one was that???

[KeyserSoze01]

Assuming that these dive companies are legitimate businesses, they all should have records of the number of tickets sold over the last few years - 7 years under oz tax law. Collect that data, then ask the National Parks admin to explain the shortfall in funds received. Too easy?

Amazing Thailand!!! You can't make this sh!t up.

Ah grasshopper, you no understand Thai way. If the tour operators prove to the "authorities" that another set of "authorities" have been ripping-off receipts, there will only be more "authorities" with their hands out for a taste of the profits, and the tour operators will be to blame for causing a loss of face for the first batch of crooked Thai officials. Often followed by trumped up charges, extortion, conviction in a kangaroo court, prison and subsequent deportation. Best to let the monkeys have their way and find another way to make a living.