Prayut should take anti-graft lessons from abroad
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha should study how corruption is being addressed in other countries.
In 2012, when the head of the work-safety bureau in Shaanxi province, Yang Dacai, was pictured wearing an expensive watch while inspecting the scene of a bus accident that killed 36 people, the photo went viral and caused a public outcry against corruption in China.
A year later, Yang, who was found to own a collection of luxury watches made by Bulgari, Omega and Rolex, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.
In 2014 in the US, former governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were indicted on corruption charges and sentenced to two years in prison for accepting $177,000 in gifts and loans from a local businessman.
The Supreme Court subsequently (and controversially) dropped the charges, but McDonnell and his wife still have more than $10 million in legal fees to pay.
The lesson here is that government officials wearing expensive ornaments beyond their salaries is no small matter anywhere in the world.
Chavalit Wannawijitr
Chiang Mai
