Ombudsman rejects complaint against govt’s digital wallet scheme

The Office of the Ombudsman has rejected a complaint that the government’s digital wallet scheme violates Article 62, a Government House source said on Thursday.

Wirangrong Dabbaransi, the chairperson of a network of universities for Thailand’s reform, had claimed that the digital wallet scheme violated Article 62 of the charter.

The ombudsman responded to the complaint by saying that since the details, conditions and budget for the scheme have not yet been finalised, it cannot be established that the scheme violates Article 62.

Hence, the ombudsman’s office said it had no authority to accept the complaint for consideration, the source said.

However, the ombudsman reminded the Cabinet to heed the opinions of the Bank of Thailand, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council and the Fiscal Policy Office to ensure that there will be enough measures to prevent corruption in the scheme.

Article 62 states that “the State shall strictly maintain its financial and fiscal discipline to ensure that the financial and fiscal status of the State is sustainably stable and secure in accordance with the law on the financial and fiscal discipline of the State and shall establish a taxation system to ensure fairness in the society.

“The law on financial and fiscal discipline of the State shall, at least, contain provisions relating to the framework of undertaking of public finance and budget of the State, formulation of fiscal discipline in respect of both budgetary and extra-budgetary income and expenditures, management of State properties and treasury reserves and public debt management.”