Thai bureaucracy: Land offices most corrupt, police ranks 2nd worst in survey

[webfact]

CORRUPTION IN THE THAI BUREAUCRACY
Land offices most corrupt
NATHAPAT PROMKAEW
The Nation



Police ranked 2nd worst in survey; Bt5 bn bribes paid to 10 govt agencies

BANGKOK: -- The Land office is the most corrupt agency in the Thai bureaucracy, while police are ranked second in this dubious list where households needed to make illegal payments to facilitate their service, according to an academic survey.

The survey titled "Corruption in the Thai Bureaucracy in 2014: A Survey of Attitudes and Experiences of Heads of Households" by Chulalongkorn University's Pasuk Phongpaichit found that 7.2 per cent of 6,048 heads of Thai households said they were asked for a bribe by officials at land offices whenever contacted for a service, while 6.1 per cent said police personnel asked for money from them.

Land offices, which come under the Department of Lands, are the key agency for all transactions and documentation involving sale or purchase of land. The office is authorised to charge a fee but officials demand extra money to speed up work or legalise some grey documents, the survey revealed.

The Departments of Customs and Land Transport also took bribes, but only 2.4 and 1.9 per cent respectively of households in the survey said they needed to offer bribes to officials for their services, Pasuk said.

However, on a relatively positive note, she said the percentage of respondents who said they had to pay tea money to officials at the land offices, police, Customs and Transport departments had decreased from 12.3 per cent, 8.5 per cent, 10.3 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively, in the previous survey in 1999.

The survey also revealed that the land office was the only bribe-taking agency in the bureaucracy that demanded more than Bt100,000 per head on average, Pasuk said. The police as well as the departments of Customs and Revenue also charge big amounts but the bribes average between Bt10,000 and Bt100,000, she said.

Public schools and local administrative organisations have also been pointed to as taking bribes from households, she said.

Officials at public schools seek bribes averaging Bt11,796 each time they are contacted for service, the Department of Customs demands an average of Bt10,538, the land-office bribes average Bt5,341, and police take Bt4,919 on average from each household, she said. Local administrations demanded only Bt1,000 on average, she said.

The survey estimated that total bribes taken by the land offices this year amounted to Bt1.9 billion, the police Bt1.7 billion and public schools Bt640 million, she said. Overall, Thai households paid bribes of Bt4.9 billion to 10 government agencies, according to the survey this year. However, she noted the amount was three times less than the last survey in 1999.

"Thai households in the survey gave importance to the problem of corruption but did not consider it more important than their own economic and income difficulties.

"Corruption is a chronic problem in the country and Thai households are less trustful of the media, the judiciary and the bureaucracy on this issue.

"Most of the survey respondents said they wanted to see tough punishment for corrupt officials and wanted the government to give priority to anti-corruption measures more than other issues," she said.

Department of Lands deputy director-general Wanit Intarak said the department was aware of the bad reputation of the land offices because of the bribery. It is difficult for the department to control as many as 800 offices and units under its jurisdiction, he said. "But we have inspected and boosted ethics and morality among officials to prevent corruption. We also use information technology in the management system to limit the opportunity for officials to take bribes."

Pol Colonel Mongkol Ketphan of the national police office said the Royal Thai Police had opened channels for people to lodge complaints on the work of the police to eliminate corruption from police stations.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Land-offices-most-corrupt-30248110.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-19

[benalibina]

This must anger the heads of the RTPF. Only 2nd !

[simple1]

This must anger the heads of the RTPF. Only 2nd !

report refers to tea money paid at police stations, no reference to street level tea money, so still #1!

[Lex Talionis]

Department of Lands deputy director-general Wanit Intarak said the department was aware of the bad reputation of the land offices because of the bribery. It is difficult for the department to control as many as 800 offices and units under its jurisdiction, he said. "But we have inspected and boosted ethics and morality among officials to prevent corruption. We also use information technology in the management system to limit the opportunity for officials to take bribes."

How about setting up a hotline to take & document people's complaints? Use these to set up a couple of sting operations and presto. You're in business.

[thesetat2013]

This is another useless survey. Their figures are unrealistic. Most Thai would not dare to lay claim to paying a bribe for fear of of repurcussions. The same that most would never report a police demanding a bribe.

It must have taken then months just to find people who would talk to them because outside the big cities bribes are demanded for everything.

[PeterPrivatePerson]

These figures only apply to "heads of Thai households". The Farang price is around 5 times higher.

[EricBerg]

The article sounds credible. Corruption is all over in Thailand. It goes all the way to the top. So chances of political leadership really wanting to fight it are limited. Punishment for corruption must be harsh and effective if people really want the change. Transfers to inactive posts will not do the job, Transfers to prison for a long time and assets being taken will be a good start.

So far the new leadership doesn't seem to do anything to lock up the corrupt ones from the previous government. A shady land deal with the general as one of the benefactors may turn out to be more of the same: corruption. If so, nothing will change and the Kingdom will slow yet steady slip further downhill. Poor poor Thailand.

[soundman]

And all of that is allegedly only a drop in the ocean compared to government procurement.

[EricBerg]

This is another useless survey. Their figures are unrealistic. Most Thai would not dare to lay claim to paying a bribe for fear of of repurcussions. The same that most would never report a police demanding a bribe.

It must have taken then months just to find people who would talk to them because outside the big cities bribes are demanded for everything.

Untrue; I hear complaints from Thais about the demanded fee to allow their kid into a specific school. The owner of a small restaurant I frequent complains about the bribe he has to pay the coppers to keep things running smoothly. And the bribe he had to pay a few years ago to be allowed to expand his shop with a terrace. The alternative would have been waiting till retirement.

The direct offers for bribes the cops make at traffic checkpoints are known to everybody. They do people a favor as the official ticket would cost more.

This corruption is a cancer in all parts of society. Nearly every Thai must know about it and many must have personal experience with it.

[Lex Talionis]

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Have to admit, that's of brilliant bit of verbal confetti. Cut & paste a bunch of articles, throw them in the blender, and viola!

[NongKhaiKid]

Great, another survey / report to remind everyone what they already know that corruption is alive, well and booming.

It's pointless to ask with all this knowledge what's being done about it because the answer is equally well known.

The new govt is no more interested in aggressive action that any of its predecessors and when asked about the wealth of senior people, including his brother, the PM gave a wishy washy answer about not jumping to conclusions as some had married into wealth.

Those involved in the the really serious corruption are all the same under the skin and are in no hurry to see action taken against their own.

Edited November 18, 2014 by NongKhaiKid

[Suriya4]

Why complain when the land office people are there to help You to under declare tax?

[daveAustin]

Third world, still!

[RustBucket]

Surely this survey has only just scratched the surface.

I would say politicians are actually the most corrupt.

5 Bn across 10 government offices?.... I bet that was beaten by each and every politician in the cabinet on a personal level.

[brucec64]

Interesting to note that the survey indicates that corruption came down during the Shin regime, with overall corrupting lower than in 1999.

[slapout]

The number of times the average citizen even goes to the land office vs their exposure to the BIB on a daily basis would make me suspect the estimated total amount of alleged bribes to police is vastly under estimated. The schools are another real money maker for those involved on the aminstration side, as many more citizens are exposed to the potential of bibe demands in schools than customs.

The total amount of money that changes money via bribes must be huge, then add what is skimed off by politicans and civil servants and wonder why some learnered people forcast critital economic times ahead for Thailand.

Edited November 18, 2014 by slapout

[boomerangutang]

code of conduct for a petty thief: If there's a way to swindle, then do it, and get as much pay-back as possible. Some animals in nature are opportunistic. They wander through the forest looking for any chance to grab a meal. Similarly, some people think that way.

I had a Thai g.f. She spend many months endeavoring to get a Thai ID. When she finally did, it cost a Bt.50,000 bribe to the bureaucrat. She told me, if she had told the bureaucrat that she had a farang b.f., the bribe would have been 5 times as much. I believe it.

[Laughing Gravy]

A simple solution to this would be to have independent bodies who can regulate and take away powers from those that abuse them. Also have a system of complaints where people can voice their concern without fear of any reprisal (shot or killed and tortured) and do this anonymously. That way those who have positions of responsibility and are there to serve the people can be accountable.

Right then I have just woken up from my dream.

[sscsamui]

I would say that the Land office here on Koh Samui Is VERY corrupt. I have had to Pay many times to get any and everything done there. Also Everybody else i know has had to also... Koh Samui I very Corrupt Island. From the Land office to the taxi Mafia and the Police. But the police on Koh Samui are not as bad as other parts of Thailand. There are many strait forward officers on Samui...

[dean008]

Come on general, sort this out. One word (or maybe a few) and all schools Directors homes (and schools) could be raided by the Army, bank accounts accounts of the directors examined, funds/assets unaccounted for seized.

It would put the fear of God in the minds of the other corrupt officials and might demonstrate a degree of sincerity in ending corruption

[Dogmatix]

How much to cover up a murder of: a politically well connected Thai, an ordinary Thai, a farang, an alien worker with passport and WP, an undocumented alien worker, s stateless person etc?.

[NamKAheng]

Pol Colonel Mongkol Ketphan of the national police office said the Royal Thai Police had opened channels for people to lodge complaints on the work of the police to eliminate corruption from police stations.

I wonder how much they charge to take a complaint about police corruption?

[Ulic]

The numbers sound vastly underestimated to me. Especially in regards to the police. From traffic enforcement

to kick backs from bars and shops I think they are #1 in this group, but pail in comparison to the skimming

that goes on in government procurement programs or the populist rice scheme.

[Neeranam]

These figures only apply to "heads of Thai households". The Farang price is around 5 times higher.

It has nothing to do with being 'farang' or not but solely on your 'influence' - some farang, and many long-term have this influence so pay the same or less than the average Thai. For 'farang' who choose not to integrate(learn language, join clubs etc), personally I think they deserve to pay more.

[Dogmatix]

The Land Dept system of demanding transfer tax paid in cash on the spot is designed specifically to facilitate bribery. 100k slipped to an official can easily save tax of 500k.

[Gonzo the Face]

Absolutely Shocking ......who would have ever believed it possible. This really makes Thailand look bad.....Most shocking of all is after reading thru 25+ posts, I have yet to see ANY of the usual team of ANTI THAI basher posters , say one little word..... Doesn't this qualify as Thai Bashing on a super scale ???

[templedog]

Department of Lands deputy director-general Wanit Intarak said the department was aware of the bad reputation of the land offices because of the bribery. It is difficult for the department to control as many as 800 offices and units under its jurisdiction, he said. "But we have inspected and boosted ethics and morality among officials to prevent corruption. We also use information technology in the management system to limit the opportunity for officials to take bribes."

How about setting up a hotline to take & document people's complaints? Use these to set up a couple of sting operations and presto. You're in business.

All they ever do is report on this to give the illusion that someone is doing their job, while nothing will EVER be done about it. However, your idea is the simplest solution.

[nolabuff]

Interesting to note that the survey indicates that corruption came down during the Shin regime, with overall corrupting lower than in 1999.

Corruption in Thailand soared to its highest level ever during the Yingluck regime.

Transparency International

Two points...One if you could bother to read their website, it says that you can't compare results before 2012 because they started using a different methodology. Two, if you want to compare results before 2012, despite them telling you not to, you'll find that not much has changed in the last twenty years. In 1995, they scored a 2.79, a 28 by today's standards, which is lower than the 35 they scored in 2013.

Corruption has no color in Thailand, which makes it all the more frustrating that people believe a bunch of multimillionaire generals will deliver on this vague reform agenda.

[janpharma]

Thainess...

[kamahele]

The report doesn't include the bribes that these government departments get from their own employees and employee wannabes as well. Want to pass the test? Pay money. Want promotion you are already entitled to? Pay money. Want to transfer to another position? Pay money.....