National parks reveal earnings on daily basis

“The figures are updated at 8.30am every day,” DNP deputy director general Theerapat Prayoonsit said yesterday.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk gave Theerapat the task of looking into allegations that park officials were embezzling admission fees.
Theerapat said he had set up a centre as well as committees to monitor the collection of admission fees since November 2.
“The committees are tasked with reviewing fee collection and conducting random checks on whether tourists get tickets after paying the fee,” he said.
There are 128 national parks across the country.
The DNP has been working hard to eliminate graft at national parks after Democrat MP Naris Khamnurak, chair of the House committee on natural resources, called on the National Anti-Corruption Commission to launch a probe into the embezzlement of parks’ admission fees.
“With the revenue figures posted on the Internet on a daily basis, transparency should increase,” Theerapat said.
But a DNP source complained that the probe had, so far, targeted just the period when Damrong Phidej was national parks chief. “In fact, income soared during his tenure and showed an increase even during the flood crisis last year,” the source said.
According to the source, income from parks’ admission fees was shared among various agencies. “If they are going to launch probes, they should review income from all periods,” the source said.