Graft panel delivers zip

Thailand has rarely been short of allegations of graft and misconduct associated with public offices, and the recent allegations of shady business operations within the barracks come as no surprise. Given the country’s notoriety in this area, the public’s expectations of deliverables from the House committee on anti-corruption and misconduct are high. But the committee has delivered next to nothing.

Instead, since its formation in September last year, the panel has mostly dealt with tit-for-tat squabbling among its key members whose main priority during the past seven months has been to nitpick opposition MPs over trivial things.

Most recently, Paiboon Nititawan, an MP of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), filed a motion to remove Pol Gen Sereepisuth Temeeyaves from his position as head of the committee.

Before that, PPRP MP for Ratchaburi, Pareena Kraikupt, also submitted a petition calling for a probe into the conduct of Pol Gen Sereepisuth, the opposition Seri Ruam Thai Party’s leader, over alleged double standards.

A week earlier, another PPRP MP, Sira Jenjakha, filed a complaint against Pol Gen Sereepisuth demanding a probe into an allegation that his house encroaches on a public waterway.

Pol Gen Sereepisuth, who insisted he had already been cleared of the allegation by public prosecutors, has filed a libel complaint with the police against the three PPRP MPs for submitting the motion to remove him.

Instead of tackling rampant graft in the public sector, the committee’s work has been bogged down by conflicts between its chairman, Pol Gen Sereepisuth and these three PPRP MPs. The trio joined the pane following resignations of three former members.

Their conflicts over personal matters have disrupted the committee’s proceedings and have been almost entirely counter-productive.

The appointment of the three MPs was always likely to disrupt Pol Gen Sereepisuth who earlier wanted to hold their boss, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, accountable for his failure to recite the complete oath of office during his swearing-in by trying to have him testify before the committee.

Pol Gen Sereepisuth took a rather unyielding tone in warning that a summons would be issued, if necessary, to have Gen Prayut clarify the oath saga before the committee.

Since then, the PPRP MPs, particularly Ms Pareena and Mr Sira, have been keeping tabs not on what the committee should investigate but rather on what its chairman does.

Indeed, Pol Gen Sereepisuth himself has not been immune from wasting committee time attempting to settle old scores with his opponents.

Their arguments during committee meetings have been recorded and gone viral.

This has raised a question over whether this committee is properly fulfilling its duty. Over the past months, the four have done nothing but waste tax money, especially considering the benefits afforded to House committee members which range from meeting allowances to budgets for overseas travel.

The committee’s members should be reminded of their responsibilities. They must stop using its meetings as a battleground for their political power games. There are many corruption and misconduct cases awaiting investigation.

If they don’t stop wasting tax money on their tit-fortat games, they should be made aware that they too can be probed by their own committee for misconduct.