ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN
Ceiling of financial transactions for politicians should be reduced: Chuti

BANGKOK: -- The Democrat Party's secretary general Chuti Krairiksh on Thursday expressed support for the decision by the national antigraft commission to reduce the ceiling of financial transactions that a political office holder has to declare.

He was referring to National AntiCorruption Commission's decision to reduce the ceiling from Bt2 million to Bt500,000.

The decision aims to impose stricter rules for politicians, he said, though he was personally not worried and would follow the new rules.

Chuti suggested that the new rules should be applied to senior government officials. However the NACC and Anti-Money Laundering Office will have to work harder as the documents involved will increase by 50 per cent. Both agencies should recruit more officers to deal with the matter.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Ceiling-of-financial-transactions-for-politicians--30237658.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-03

More and more paper work; fill in form in triplicate and wait for army approval rubber stamp.

Because of the amount of paper work, no wonder not many tourist exchange money at the bank which take an average of 30 to 45 minutes. Go to Super Rich (or other non-bank exchange counters), and you can do the same transaction in less than 3 minutes.

The Democrat Party's secretary general Chuti Krairiksh on Thursday expressed support for the decision by the national antigraft commission to reduce the ceiling of financial transactions that a political office holder has to declare.

What are the other parties stance on this ?

Chuti suggested that the new rules should be applied to senior government officials. However the NACC and Anti-Money Laundering Office will have to work harder as the documents involved will increase by 50 per cent. Both agencies should recruit more officers to deal with the matter.

In order to do this the budgets of these and other such organisations will have to be brought back up to pre Yingluck 'fight against corruption' level.

Preferably even increased from there so they can get stuck into the 25,000 plus corruption cases that would have been forgiven by the amnesty bill.

Now theres a thought; could be the reason for the budget cuts, if the amnesty bill had gone through there would have been no need for the NACC the AMLO or even the AG.

More and more paper work; fill in form in triplicate and wait for army approval rubber stamp.

Because of the amount of paper work, no wonder not many tourist exchange money at the bank which take an average of 30 to 45 minutes. Go to Super Rich (or other non-bank exchange counters), and you can do the same transaction in less than 3 minutes.

Tourists do not normally fall under the category of politicians and officials in Thailand.

Every share a politician they and their direct family own should be put into a trust for management by the CPB.

More and more paper work; fill in form in triplicate and wait for army approval rubber stamp.

Because of the amount of paper work, no wonder not many tourist exchange money at the bank which take an average of 30 to 45 minutes. Go to Super Rich (or other non-bank exchange counters), and you can do the same transaction in less than 3 minutes.

If I go to the proper exchange booths in the airport it takes a few minutes. If go to the bank it takes longer because they are not used to it AND have to follow slightly different rules.

But all this is nothing to do with OP.

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Drop it to B10 000.

Seemed like a good number yesterday

More and more paper work; fill in form in triplicate and wait for army approval rubber stamp.

Because of the amount of paper work, no wonder not many tourist exchange money at the bank which take an average of 30 to 45 minutes. Go to Super Rich (or other non-bank exchange counters), and you can do the same transaction in less than 3 minutes.

Tourists do not normally fall under the category of politicians and officials in Thailand.

tourists normally change money at the numerous bank exchange booths on nearly every street and do so in about 2 minutes

More and more paper work; fill in form in triplicate and wait for army approval rubber stamp.

Because of the amount of paper work, no wonder not many tourist exchange money at the bank which take an average of 30 to 45 minutes. Go to Super Rich (or other non-bank exchange counters), and you can do the same transaction in less than 3 minutes.

Tourists do not normally fall under the category of politicians and officials in Thailand.

tourists normally change money at the numerous bank exchange booths on nearly every street and do so in about 2 minutes

Sorry. Didn't notice anything about tourists in the OP.

Typical Thai approach. Throw more paper shuffling at the problem.

Politicians in NACC sights
Sucheera Pinijparakarn,
Nathapat Promkaew,
Pimnara Pradubwit
The Nation

Financial institutions ready to report bt500,000 cash transactions in bid to tackle money laundering

BANGKOK: -- Financial institutions are ready to cooperate with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in reporting cash transactions exceeding Bt500,000 per transaction and property transactions by politicians and government offices that exceed Bt1 million.

This follows an aggressive action by the antigraft body to tackle money laundering. It will issue a list of transactions that financial institutions are required to report to the NACC in the next few months. The move is in addition to the work carried out the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO).

The NACC on Wednesday held its annual meeting with representatives of financial institutions and other agencies relevant to the body's investigative powers.

NACC chief Panthep Klanarongran said it was looking at changing regulations to be more effective in preventing corruption.

Currently, national and local political office holders as well as senior government officials are required to declare their assets to the NACC only when they take and leave a post and one year after they take and leave a post. The NACC cannot examine transactions that occur while someone is in a job.

Kasikornbank executive vice president Surasak Dudsdeemaytha said the request by the NACC was no trouble for the banks, as they generally reported individuals' cash transactions in excess of Bt2 million and property transactions exceeding Bt5 million to AMLO.

Currently, bank clients who do a transaction in line with the aforementioned amounts are also required to provide sufficient identification, according to financial institutions.

'A positive step'

"If the NACC requests it, we can report the transactions of those [politicians and government officials]," Surasak said "However, it will be better if the NACC sends ID cards to banks, as it will be quicker for banks to report the transactions that way," he suggested.

Asking for the cooperation of banks in this matter is a positive step as the banking business is one mechanism to help the state monitor financial transactions, he said.

Kittiya Todhanakasem, first senior executive vice president at Krungthai Bank, said the bank was ready to cooperate with the NACC as it had previously reported suspect transactions to the AMLO.

NACC deputy secretarygeneral Warawit Sukboon said the graft fighter would reconsider the amount of money set as the ceiling.

"Because there are concerns from some financial organisations that the amount of money is too low [meaning too many transactions will have to be reported], the NACC is ready to listen to all opinions and adjust it so that the financial institutions' burden is not too much," Warawit said.

"However, it must be the best solution for the country at the same time.

"The NACC sees the amounts as suitable as the political office holders and government officials have a maximum income of Bt100,000 monthly.

"But for property, we agree the ceiling should be increased from Bt1 million. We will discuss this with financial institutions and find a solution. It is expected that the new regulation should be announced within three months."

Democrat Party secretary general Chuti Krairiksh supported the decision to lower the ceiling for the reporting of financial transactions involving political office holders.

The decision aims to impose stricter rules for politicians, he said, though he is personally not worried and will follow the new rules.

Chuti suggested that the new rules should be applied to senior government officials.

However the NACC and AMLO will have to work harder as the documents involved are expected to increase 50fold, he said, adding that both agencies should recruit more officers.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Politicians-in-NACC-sights-30237715.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-04

They should go through the last 3 years worth of transactions.... I am certain they will find something very interesting from each and every ministry of the PTP government.

The ceiling is not the problem, it's the honesty, you are striving for a democracy , why penalise a person who is loaded , although those of millionaire standing, most don't like the show piece of being in the lime light , sometimes you get a ego maniac who's loaded and that can lead to permanent damage as Thailand has experienced, if you have honest politician's you don't have a problem , perhaps to be come a Thai politician a more selective process is required, I wont hold my breath.

this is only for govt office holders,ie, mp's, why should this worry anyone one in here unless they are involved in it or they simply want to bitch about everything(or cannot understand what is wriiten), very strange. I think its great as it means that mp's cannot hide all their financial transactions easily so it helps to keep them more open to the people they serve, the only ones that should be upset are the guilty parties or do we have thai mp's hiding in here??????????