Verdict's Reversal Fouls Thailand's Credibility in Anti-Corruption Efforts by Phairath Khampha 11 September 2002 Fighting a move seen by most of Thailand's people as an effort by the country's economic and political elite to keep the rampant corruption in place, Thailand's National Counter Corruption Commission said it would seek to "repair the harm done to its authority" by asking the Constitutional Court to bar state agencies from overturning its verdicts on any official found guilty of corruption. The graft agency had been in a turf war with the bureaucracy since August 2002 , when an appeals panel of the Civil Service Commission reversed its guilty ruling against former Public Relations Department chief Weeraphol Duangsoongnoen. Cabinet accepted Mr Weeraphol back to work as an inspector-general of the Prime Minister's Office on September 3. NCCC officials made it clear that this set a bad precedent which would weaken the fight against rampant corruption among state officials. It clearly indicated that the government of Prime Minister Thaskin Shinawatra was very hypocritical and it wanted to retain the process by which its cronies could continue to steal the nation's wealth. However, Weeraphol would be tried in a special court on graft charges, despite his reinstatement to the civil service. The implications of this case of Thailand are huge. NCCC found Mr Weeraphol and Chusak Rongsawat, then the department's information technology centre chief, were involved in the forgery of a document to help Krungthep OA Coms Co Ltd win a 10 million baht (1 US Dollar = 42.29 Thai Baht) computer leasing deal with the department in 1999. It ruled Mr Weeraphol and Mr Chusak guilty of serious misconduct and asked the PM's Office to dismiss them. They were sacked on June 14. Both appealed to the Civil Service Commission, which appointed a panel chaired by Khaneung Reuchai to re-investigate the corruption allegations. Considerable money and other consideration changed hands in the intervening time and in the subsequent investigation report presented to cabinet by the commission on September 3, the Khaneung panel found the pair had no intention of corruption but "had made a blunder by altering a bidding committee's report suggesting the department call a new contest for computer procurement". The tampered document suggested acceptance of results of the first bidding, in which Krungthep OA won. The Khaneung panel found the pair had acted with negligence, considered a minor misconduct. It said sacking was too harsh a penalty and recommended the PM's Office put them back to work. Deputy government spokesman Kuthep Saikrajang said by clearing Mr Weeraphol of his wrongdoing and taking him back into the civil service, cabinet was not defying the NCCC ruling. Mr Kuthep said Mr Weeraphol had the right to appeal. "There needs to be a balance of power or we might become a dictator," he said. "The NCCC should look at the Civil Service Commission's investigation report. It may see something it did not see before." Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, himself seen by a growing number of Thais as quite corrupt, said Mr Weeraphol had the right to restore his good name--by returning to the civil service. Mr Weeraphol retired at the end of September. "We now consider him innocent," Mr Thaksin said. NCCC chairman Opas Arunin said graft commissioners resolved to ask the Constitutional Court to draw a clear line on its jurisdiction and that of the Civil Service Commission, to prevent future clashes of authority. Mr Opas said Mr Weeraphol's return to the government service could cause problems in the future, as other officials punished for serious misconduct would cite the Weeraphol case to atone for their own mistakes. The NCCC, he said, was worried this could render the anti-corruption law useless, which was the intent of the country's extremely corrupt economic and political elite. An NCCC source, meanwhile, said articles 92 to 95 of the NCCC law stated clearly that guilty verdicts handed down by the anti-corruption commission were irreversible. Furthermore, the commission's decisions on punishment for officials found guilty of corruption should be considered final. "The appeals panel is not empowered to decide whether or not officials are guilty of wrongdoing," the source said. Graft trial for PR Department boss Weeraphol would be tried in a special court on graft charges, despite his reinstatement to the civil service and was indicted to stand trial in the Supreme Court's Criminal Tribunal, said Attorney General Wichian Wiriyaprasit. "The prosecution of Weeraphol will proceed based on the indictment issued by the National Counter Corruption Commission," Wichian said. Although the government reinstated Weeraphol, its decision was based on a disciplinary review, which had no bearing on the pending criminal prosecution, he said. The attorney general said prosecutors agreed with the NCCC indictment that Weeraphol had abused his position in a case involving computer procurement. He said the prosecution order against Weeraphol had been issued on July 30. NCCC member Krirkkiat Pipatseritham said the government had no legal basis to reverse Weeraphol's dismissal. "The anti-graft law is an organic law prescribed by the Constitution. The government has acted inappropriately by citing civil service regulations to overturn it," he said. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra welcomed the judicial review into the government's ability to reassess disciplinary penalties for bureaucrats indicted in graft-related cases. "My government will respect and abide by the court ruling," he said. Somkid Lertpaitoon, who helped draft the Constitution, said the charter did not empower the NCCC to make final judgements on indicted bureaucrats. Constitution Court president Issara Nitithanprapas refused to comment on the matter, saying his comments might sway the opinions of his judges. A legal pundit said the reinstatement of Weeraphol was based on civil service regulations that fell outside the range of the Constitution Court. Administrative Court chief justice Worapoj Wisarutpit suggested that the NCCC should ask his court to rule on the matter. Worapoj saw the matter as a dispute between the NCCC, which is an independent body, and the executive branch. The ruling on administrative disputes falls under his jurisdiction, he said. Senator Thongbai Thongpao said the government could not justify its overriding of the graft indictment. Democrat MP Pirapan Saliratvipak said the government had taken a misguided stand on law enforcement that undermined the fight against corruption. Implications for Thailand are huge Thailand's National Counter Corruption Commission once again found itself at the receiving end of a major snub---this time at the hands of the Civil Service Commission's disciplinary subcommittee, which overruled its verdict to sack former Public Relations Department chief Weeraphol Duangsoongnern for corruption. The corrupt Thaksin administration endorsed the CSC's recommendation to reinstate Weeraphol as an inspector-general attached to the Permanent Secretariat of the PM's Office. As a result, Weeraphol, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 at the end of August, would be entitled to a full pension and welfare benefits. Weeraphol was found by the NCCC to have committed serious wrongdoing in connection with the lease of the 12.8 million baht computer system while serving as deputy director general of the Public Relations Department. This led to his dismissal in June 2001. But he appealed the NCCC ruling with the CSC's disciplinary subcommittee. After consulting the Council of State, the subcommittee was told it did not have to abide by the NCCC's rulings or its prescribed punitive actions. The subcommittee further investigated the charges and decided Weeraphol supposedly had no intention of cheating and that the bidding for the computer deal had been initiated by another official. It also ruled Weeraphol supposedly had not been involved in the falsifying of a bidding document to award the government contract to a specific firm. NCCC chairman Opas Arunin said the agency would challenge the CSC decision, which the Thaksin administration endorsed so that Weeraphol could be cleared of corruption and reinstated. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, himself shown to be corrupt despite mysteriously quashed constituional court attempts to impeach him, seemed to take pleasure in the snub against the NCCC when he said the CSC decision could be attributed to the proper functioning of the checks-and-balances mechanism, similar to the one that exists between the NCCC and the Constitution Court. In August 2001, the Constitution Court, in a highly controversial verdict, overruled the NCCC's verdict that Thaksin was guilty of corruption, asset concealment and submitting false asset statements. Thaksin narrowly escaped losing office as a result. Weeraphol's case is significant in that it is the first time since the NCCC was set up - to replace the largely toothless Counter Corruption Commission - that the administrative branch of government had overridden it. The creation of the NCCC, one of the key independent bodies created by the 1997 Constitution, was hailed as an effective tool for Thai society to fight corruption. But its credibility was now firmly on the line as it appeared the administrative branch of government and the bureaucracy were capable of overriding its verdicts. Perhaps all three ar ein collusion and the NCCC's activities have been only a charade to give a semblance that Thailand was trying to honestly deal with corruption, scams and thievery that makes one think that Thais are all corrupt, dishonest crooks. Legal experts believed it was the intention of the Constitution framers to build in a checks-and-balances mechanism to ensure anti-graft proceedings by the NCCC were not used to harass government officials wrongly accused of corruption. Even so, it behooves the CSC disciplinary subcommittee to publicise its findings and the rationale for its decision to clear Weeraphol of wrongdoing and to reinstate him. It is true the CSC has the legal authority to review NCCC verdicts, but the public also has a right to know how the subcommittee arrived at its decision. The Constitution Court would be called upon to settle the legal dispute between the NCCC and the Thaksin administration. The Court's decision on this precedent-setting case would have great implications for the country's ongoing political reform, if in fact there is any, which is aimed at transforming all branches of government into a less corrupt, well-functioning system characterised by transparency and public accountability. To achieve those ambitious goals set by the Constitution, the NCCC not only must not be marginalised but it must be strengthened to become a more effective weapon in the fight against corruption. Interestingly, a few days after Transparency International ranked Thailand as the second least honest country in Asia, the rector of Ramkamhaeng University was quoted as saying that cheating by students was a "trivial" matter. What perfect timing! It pains deeply to see Thailand increasingly known as a leader in computer software piracy, fake designer goods, jewellery scams, trade in illegal drugs, endangered wildlife, antiquities, credit card fraud and child prostitution. Thai society has a cancer; double standards are eating away at the moral fibre of the people. This has to change, and that change will only start when Thai people take a long, hard look at themselves and truly reform and not simply pay lip service to the concept of reform. Of course, that all countries have good and bad citizens, it is now clear that an abnormally high percentage of Thais have an appalling lack of integrity and social responsibility.