PACC finds major ally in Wissanu

The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) assumes an important function in combatting graft involving state officials and its work must be retained, according to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.

The deputy premier was responding to observations by critics that the PACC was doing a job which could be performed adequately by the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Also, they said the PACC was duplicating corruption probes which are pursued by other state agencies.

Mr Wissanu said he acknowledged the concerns about work duplication which may waste taxpayers’ money. He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the PACC’s 10th anniversary yesterday.

However, despite a call for the government to review the PACC’s role and consider if it needs this anti-corruption arm, Mr Wissanu insisted the PACC must stay on.

His stance is similar to reasons behind the birth of the PACC a decade ago.

The agency, which is overseen by the Justice Ministry, was established to help deal with a large number of corruption cases shouldered by the National AntiCorruption Commision, an independent public agency.

He said the work of the PACC and NACC was clearly separate. The NACC takes care of anti-graft cases involving high-ranking state officials and political post holders while the PACC deals with probes against less senior officials, at levels below the post of director.

Just looking at the past year, Mr Wissanu said the PACC has helped ease the anti-graft workload and become effective “eyes” looking out for irregularities.

It is hardly possible for the NACC to deal with every corruption case in Thailand, Mr Wissanu said. The national corruption watchdog has so far received piles of complaints, so the PACC’s help is a must to help the government jointly eradicate corruption, he said.

Over the past 10 years, the PACC has taken on about 30,000 corruption cases for investigation, PACC secretary-general Konthip Darot said. It has already deliberated 19,043 cases and given its ruling on 696.

Many cases have also reached court and were already settled, he said.