Corruption in Thailand: Politicians Hold Large Sums in Cash to Conceal Assets by Phairath Khampha 31 March 2002 A Thai government graft-buster said Thailand's anti-corruption laws were being ignored as public-office holders find legal loopholes to evade scrutiny. Thai politicians appear to hold an unusually large amount of cash, and some have as much as 80 million baht (1 US Dollar = 43.5 Thai Baht) in small bills at a given time, probably in an attempt to evade asset checks, an anti-graft commissioner said on March 30, 2002. National Counter Corruption Commission member Wirat Watanasiritham said the majority of public-office holders did not yet take compliance with asset-declaration requirements seriously. Asset declarations and the subsequent checks are key to enforcing the anti-graft law, Wirat said. "Unfortunately our country is still plagued with politicians acting like Sithanonchai, manipulating legal wording in their favour," he said. In one NCCC investigation, a leading politician was found to have more than 20 luxury cars at his disposal, but he argued that he did not have to report them as his assets as he had made a blanket ownership transfer before assuming office. Many Thai politicians take advantage of the legal concept of blanket transfers to omit declaring assets and evading NCCC checks. The NCCC suspects that a number of office holders waited for one year to lapse after leaving office before putting the assets held by their nominees back into their own names. The anti-graft law limits the asset checks to within one year after the office-holders leave office. Wirat was speaking at a seminar on corruption and malfeasance held at Thammasat University. Speaking at the same seminar, NCCC secretary general Klanarong Chantik said most corruption cases stemmed from procurement irregularities. In almost every case, the irregularities happened because bureaucrats and politicians conspire to siphon off public funds, Klanarong said. Using the seminar as a platform to defend the Anti-Money Laundering Office's reputation, AMLO secretary-general Peeraphan Prempooti said his office was a fully autonomous agency that conducted its probes without outside influence. "No one can order the AMLO to open an investigation," he said. Peeraphan was referring to the scandal in which the AMLO was accused of conducting wrongful investigations into journalists who had been critical of the government. But most Thais believe that the AMLO was misused by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to harass the media and to muzzle it. In the light of the scandal, Peeraphan said he was drawing up new investigative procedures aimed at restoring public trust. The AMLO also planned to enlarge its jurisdiction to cover money-laundering in connection with international terrorism, he said. Peeraphan also said drug traffickers were using new tactics to conceal their money. Instead of depositing the money in banks, he said, they chose to invest in insurance schemes. "It is mostly a practice in the northern provinces: these groups buy life-insurance policies known as single premiums," he said. PUBLIC SURVEY: 'MPs don't deserve more money' Meanwhile, even as Wirat Watanasirithamwas speaking, Thai citizens became incensed at politicians who said they needed more to give more. The Thai government went about its plan to raise MPs and senators' monthly salaries from 77,000 baht to 100,000 baht as quietly as possible, but it still managed to draw fire from some agitated Bangkokians. The proposal was originated by a parliamentary committee, which argued that members of the two chambers of Parliament were not being paid enough given the large sums they need to spend on social donations and similar obligations, otherwise known as social taxes.  This was despite the fact that Thai politicians regularly annually siphon off millions, if not billions, of dollars of taxpayers' money through their corrupt schemes to enrich themselves. According to government spokesman Yongyuth Tiyapairat, the government was proceeding with plans to issue an executive decree approving the pay rise. But most Bangkokians contacted in a phone survey disagreed with the proposal, saying the current salaries were high enough and that all available funds should be reserved for public use. Here are some of their comments: - Duangnet Chaem-usa, 24, private company employee: "I'm against this. The money they receive each month should be enough. Their claim that they shoulder a high [social] tax burden is self-seeking. They just want money to spend on their own images. The extra money should be kept for the public's use." - Pisamai Utathep, 40, housewife: "I don't agree with this. The economy has yet to recover, and we should spend the money on improving the economy and helping the poor. The current salary is high: each month they must be left with a huge sum after those petty social taxes." - Somnuk Klainet, 60, retired: "I'm voting against this [in the survey] to encourage them to spend thriftily. If their pay is raised, the public will suffer in the form of higher taxes." - Siriphen na Nakhon, 32, housewife: "I don't support this. The money they receive is a huge amount. It's just not right to ask for higher pay because you have to pay social taxes, when everybody in society, whether their salary is low or high, must pay taxes. Personally, I think they are overpaid as it is. Noreover, they steal whatever they can from us all the time." - Kasorn Imsam-ang, 22, student: "I'm totally against this. They are elected to work for the people, and their performance is still poor in the light of how much they're paid. And as the people have been set aside central budgets. MPs or senators shouldn't need to extend financial support to the public." - Kalaya Phenmalerng, 18, student: "I'm not voting for this: pay should be linked to performance. Why give them a pay rise when many MPs have simply not performed and some have yet to come up with anything and most of them steal our money on corruptly managed projects?"