Private group to ramp up anti-corruption fight

To boost its battle against corruption, it aims to raise the number of private company members from 416 last year to 600 this year.

The CAC will emphasise businesses involved in public procurement while it will also push its members to install and implement internal anti-corruption mechanisms. This will more than double the number of CAC certified companies from 78 at the end of 2014 to more than 200 this year.

The plan was unveiled as the government plans to boost the economy through new infrastructure projects. Siam Commercial Bank’s Economic Intelligence Centre estimated that if the disbursement of the 2015 budget progresses according to target, especially for infrastructure projects, as much as Bt68 billion will be added to the economy.

This target does not include the junta’s dream to start the China-backed rail project by the end of next year.

“In the past year, the Thai business sector became more alert to corporate governance and anti-corruption – as shown by significant rises in numbers of companies joining the CAC and those certified by the CAC. This [projected expansion] was due partly to the shifting social and political contexts that emphasise more on transparency and the government’s strong stance in tackling corruption,” Bandid Nijathaworn, secretary-general of the CAC said.

 “Besides setting ambitious coalition expansion targets for this year, the CAC will focus on getting sectors prone to corruption risk – such as those involved with bidding on government projects – to sign up. It will also push for existing members to put anti-graft policies into action by substantially increasing the number of certified companies,” he said.

Another factor that helped elevate corruption consciousness among the business sector was the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) move to compile and disseminate an anti-graft progress indicator. This records progress made by listed companies to put anti-graft policies into action. This indicator will be another tool to help investors understand listed companies’ profiles on anti-corruption policies and commitments. 

Private companies join the CAC voluntarily. As of end-2014, some 406 companies, including 212 listed companies, had joined – up by 138 companies from 268 at the end of 2013.

Of the total, 78 companies have been certified by the CAC for having put in place policies and high compliance standards to prevent corruption, up from 22 companies at end-2013.

The CAC was founded in 2010 to implement effective anti-corruption policy and mechanisms. The scope of CAC focuses specifically on the private sector and it works closely and in parallel with the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT).