Govt corruption highest under NCPO junta, says report by graft watchdog
Government corruption hit a new high under the post-coup National Council for Peace (NCPO) junta, according to a report released by the National Anti-Corruption Commission recently .
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who led the NCPO junta after staging the 2014 coup, acknowledged the report’s findings but said the figures drew mostly on complaints of corruption rather than proven cases.
He said that people would always try to cheat the system but said he did not want to reveal the names of the culprits.
Instead, he ordered the Prime Minister’s Office to publicise the achievements of his government to show how “well it had served the people”.
Asked whether each ministry would now be inspected for corruption, he said monitoring for government graft was the media’s job. He added that government officials preferred working behind closed doors because they were afraid of being attacked by the media if they were too transparent.