Growing awareness in corruption

 The Thai CSI index was based on the University of Thailand Chamber of Commerce's survey of 2,400 Thais nationwide.  
 According to Saowanee Thairungrote, the university's vice-president for research, 74 per cent of the respondents considered that corruption should be tackled, through the stoppage of special payments and notification of payments. Most respondents showed moderate confidence in the efficiency of the National Anti-Corruption Commission but higher confidence in the private sector's anti-corruption network.
 Among government projects which show the highest possibility of corruption are those concerning road/bridge construction, procurements, flood relief funds, and the government's subsidy programmes.
 To the respondents, police show the most corruption-tainted image, followed by national-level politicians and local politicians, and service-oriented government units like the Customs Department, Revenue Department and Lands Department.
 Thanavath Phonvichai, director of the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting (CEBF), added that 82.1 per cent of surveyed entrepreneurs said they had to pay tea money to officials and politicians, in return for government contracts.
 In case that annual government spending reaches Bt3 trillion, damage could run up to Bt200 billion if tea money accounts for 25-30 per cent of contract value.
 In Asean, Singapore is considered the best in tackling corruption, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia and Thaialnd.
 Pramon Suthiwong, chairman of the private sector's anti-corruption network, said that he is asking the NACC to reveal updates on corruption complaints. The network itself has received 15 complaints and forwarded the cases to the NACC.