POLITICS
Prayut's 'war on corruption' will kick off soon
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- ON MONDAY, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will "declare war" on graft to reinforce his government's claimed commitment to carve out corruption.

Representatives from the government, private and third sectors, foreign agencies, diplomats and the media will be invited to Government House to listen to him reaffirm his regime's mission. His speech will be televised live at provincial halls across the country.

"The PM will talk about his personal perception about corruption before he took over the country's administration and how he sees it after becoming the PM, what problems he faces and how is he going to solve them," Sangsit Phiriyarangsan, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee's public relations subcommittee, said yesterday.

Manas Jamveha chairman of the subcommittee on integrity-pact liaisons, said his committee started by looking to cut costs in Mass Rapid Transit's Blue Line extension project and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's procurement of 489 buses powered by natural gas for vehicles.

It was able to cut the cost of the NGV buses by Bt1 million per bus from Bt4 million, he claimed.

His panel has requested 20 ministries to provide information on their large-scale projects for checking and 36 projects are under its consideration.

The NAC has also decided that all state agencies will begin replacing the e-auction system, whereby they will purchase supplies under the specifications and reference prices provided by the Comptroller-General's Department. This will start on October 1 with the Finance Ministry, three hospitals and nine departments.

"Any company wanting to sell its products can include information on its products in the department's database. All developed countries have opted for this system because it will help governments save money," he said.

Courses for teachers

Juree Vichit-vadakarn, chairman of the NAC's subcommittee on conscience and awareness building, said the main committee had decided to provide three courses on "grow up and not corrupt" to teachers under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry and local administrations in June, July and August.

Tortrakul Yomnak, chairman of the subcommittee on corruption prevention, said Prayut would ask all state agencies to provide information on how to access public information because the disclosure of official information is the best prevention against corruption. The Electronic Government Agency would gather official information for everyone to access.

The second list of state officials suspected of graft has reached Prayut, said Prayong Preeyachit, secretary-general of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission.

The list had been approved by four agencies - the PACC, the Auditor-General's Office, the Department of Special Investigation and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

He said he forwarded the list to Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya, who submitted it to the PM.

The first list identified more than 100 names and the second one had about the same number, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Prayuts-war-on-corruption-will-kick-off-soon-30261098.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-28

a war on corruption, across the board or with certain notable exceptions ?

Thai talk is cheap. Let's see some actual busts of Tai big men, Thai bankers, and Thai business cronies. Let's see them cuffed, charged, indicted and arraigned and tried. Steep jail time handed out for those found guilty.

a war on corruption, across the board or with certain notable exceptions ?

I think "light skirmish" would be a more apt description.

"Prayut's 'war on corruption' will kick off soon"

Any predictions on the half time score?

He's only been in power for a year and the war has just about to be declared.

I suppose sorting out lottery ticket prices, bike lanes and deck chair mafia are more important.

Twelve months should have been enough time for people to relocate their assets and shred documents now the war can REALLY START.

Yes. Do start! But make sure cronies have been given time to dispose, hide, transfer assets obtained via corruption in the past. And I still wonder how career military men amass millions on a mere government salary. Care to guess?

Big smoke no fire

War on corruption !! Start at the top !!

Thai talk is cheap. Let's see some actual busts of Tai big men, Thai bankers, and Thai business cronies. Let's see them cuffed, charged, indicted and arraigned and tried. Steep jail time handed out for those found guilty.

have you been sleeping for a year

Yes. Do start! But make sure cronies have been given time to dispose, hide, transfer assets obtained via corruption in the past. And I still wonder how career military men amass millions on a mere government salary. Care to guess?

Last year wasn't there a warning not to jump to conclusions about his hand picked people as some had married rich wives ?

The bottom line though was ' hands off ' transparency has limits.

War on corruption !! Start at the top !!

There is an old saying that a fish stinks from the head.

Thai talk is cheap. Let's see some actual busts of Tai big men, Thai bankers, and Thai business cronies. Let's see them cuffed, charged, indicted and arraigned and tried. Steep jail time handed out for those found guilty.

Why not go the whole hog and transfer them to an inactive post!

Last year wifey overhead a middle-aged lady actually boasting how her policeman husband's promotion cost 10 million baht. The words were couched as a complaint of the expense, but were really to show that they had the dosh....a boast.

They pay the bribe, get the promotion, and the return is a bigger cut of the bribes further down the hierarchy....all the way down to the street cop.

With hundreds, if not thousands, of ranking policemen having their investments threatened, things may get ugly...there's hundreds of millions of baht that need to be repaid.

Do you have the balls, Sir, to fight the war to the bitter end? I hope so.

Last year wifey overhead a middle-aged lady actually boasting how her policeman husband's promotion cost 10 million baht. The words were couched as a complaint of the expense, but were really to show that they had the dosh....a boast.

They pay the bribe, get the promotion, and the return is a bigger cut of the bribes further down the hierarchy....all the way down to the street cop.

With hundreds, if not thousands, of ranking policemen having their investments threatened, things may get ugly...there's hundreds of millions of baht that need to be repaid.

Do you have the balls, Sir, to fight the war to the bitter end? I hope so.

Unlikely since given his own track record the bitter end is just past his balls.

Maybe good news at last on the corruption front but it has to be done across the board.

Not just the top tier like the government officials but with the lower ranks such as the police and school teachers.

Heard one such case only last week. My wife has neices and nephews who are aged between 6 and 8 who go to the local village school.

The pupils are 'encouraged to save money' with their teachers, normally about 5B a day.

The neice came home the other day asking for my wife to now keep any money she saves as she does not want to give to the teacher.

This action was sparked when the nephew was told he had accumaleted savings with the teacher of 400B but he could not have it back as the teacher had no money to give him.

Some of the children were given back the money they saved by some teachers, but other teachers would not give back at all.

5B a day for 30 children in a class is a lot of extra cash to top up one's wages.

The parent's however are afraid to go and see the teacher or tell their children not to give the teacher money as they fear the children will be victimised by the teacher.

This is the sort of corruption that should be stamped on before the children except this as a way of life, and do similar when they grow up.

So whats been happening over the past 12 months... Oh planning the war.

Sent from my c64

Meanwhile Phuket runs out of control.

Maybe Costas can help?

Thai talk is cheap. Let's see some actual busts of Tai big men, Thai bankers, and Thai business cronies. Let's see them cuffed, charged, indicted and arraigned and tried. Steep jail time handed out for those found guilty.

have you been sleeping for a year

If the war on corruption is only just about nearly almost ready to kick off - then clearly Prayuth has been.

And so begins phase 2 of the dismantling of the PTP.

One can't help wondering if this will be a war on corruption or a war on political opponents?

I wonder if he will look at the army, or will it just be a selective war on corruption.

Will there be a background check on people like K. Suthep?

Always good to start the day with a joke

One can't help wondering if this will be a war on corruption or a war on political opponents?

Much the same aren't they?

Dear General, sorry, Prime Minister ...

WHY HASN`T IT STARTED ALREADY?

Let's hope it's inward looking. The Thai military, after all, is not known for its transparency. But of course we all know what this is about - and it isn't about institutional corruption.

This page isn't convinced that the current regime is whiter than white....

http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/thai-junta-beset-by-corruption-scandals/

Thai talk is cheap. Let's see some actual busts of Tai big men, Thai bankers, and Thai business cronies. Let's see them cuffed, charged, indicted and arraigned and tried. Steep jail time handed out for those found guilty.

Not to mention principals of preferred schools and universities.

However, I expect there will be money urgently changing hands ... "Here's 10,000 Baht to forget you saw me."

It's the old question: "Who will police the policemen?" .. and those who police the police, .. etc., ad infinitum.