‘Vicious circle’ as officials benefit from ‘taking care’ of supervisors
THE EMBEZZLEMENT of state funds often sees officials in the provinces stealing money from regional budgets before it is to be legitimately distributed and then sending it to corrupt supervisors in central agencies, a former National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) member, who asked to remain anonymous, has said.
After national budgets were approved by Parliament and allocated to ministries and departments, regional and provincial agencies “serving” the public received funds that were supposed to be distributed to people in need.
However, corrupt officials at the regional often embezzled funds, sending back a portion of the funds to supervisors in Bangkok head offices, and collecting an illicit “commission”, resulting in recipients receiving Bt1,000 to Bt2,000 instead of the Bt3,000 assistance they were entitled to, the source said.
Some “commissions” were also apportioned to “take care” of central agency supervisors when they visited regional offices, he added.
In what has recently been exposed as a nationwide network of alleged corruption, the pattern is repeated in a “vicious circle”, as local officials who “took care” of their superiors were often promoted more quickly, resulting in them setting up their own tributary networks that perpetuated the pattern, he added.