Legislation

[marshbags]

Taken from todays B.Post

General news >> Monday January 01, 2007

Quote:-

The Justice Ministry is being urged to speed up the drafting of a new bill if it wants to see Thailand ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption, said deputy justice permanent secretary Thongthong Chandarangsu yesterday.

He said Bangkok's ratification has been held up pending amendments to the country's Criminal Code and a new bill on assets recovery.

Thailand has signed the convention along with 139 countries, but it has yet to ratify it.

So far 80 have ratified the treaty, which was introduced in 2003 to boost the international fight against corruption.

Mr Thongthong said he is working on the new laws which Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont wants to see enacted before a new government comes along.

"Only the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) can push for quick passage of the bill," he said.

He said the amended Criminal Code will also demand punishment for state officials of foreign governments found involved in corruption.

The existing law applies to Thai authorities only.

"Corruption in the modern world involves bribery of staff of foreign governments in Thailand. We do not have a law to deal with them.

"The convention requires its members to upgrade the law and give more teeth to graft-fighters," said Mr Thongthong.

The other proposed law will mainly deal with confiscation and retrieval of ill-gotten assets stored in foreign countries. When the ill-gotten assets were smuggled out of the country as in the cases of Rakesh Saxena and Pin Chakkapak, both accused of embezzlement, the attorney-general could only request that their assets be frozen, he said.

With this bill in place, the state can effectively deal with politicians, state officials or individuals who transfer assets to any of the 140 member countries, he said.

Unquote.

Please go to the following url for the full article:-

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/01Jan2007_news12.php

The fact that it encompasses the international community is a very good move forward in my opnion and helps and encourages transparency.

marshbags

P.S. Search on T.V for this article to double check it hasn,t been posted / duplicated..

Please edit it should that be the case mods.

Edited January 1, 2007 by marshbags