Bill to limit politicians’ influence

The tenure of the planned national holding company’s committee members will last for as long as six years so that they can act as a shield from politicians seeking to influence state-owned enterprises when the government changes hands, says the finance minister.

The committee’s tenure is long enough to strengthen the enterprises’ culture, which will be an immunity against politicians’ intervention to benefit themselves, Apisak Tantivorawong said.

The government’s plan to transfer ownership of 12 state enterprises to the national holding company has raised concerns that politicians could try to exploit them by influencing the committee, so a draft bill proposes to let committee members sit for as long as six years.

The committee members will also be eligible to renew their terms.

The draft bill is part of a bid by the State Enterprises Policy Commission or superboard to prevent political intervention, ensure management transparency and enhance efficiency of the enterprises.

Politicians have sometimes tried to influence profit-making state enterprises for their own benefit. They have often been offered seats on enterprises’ boards as rewards for their help, using their influence to fulfil promises made in election campaigns.

The Yingluck Shinawatra administration used the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives as the funding source for the costly rice pledging scheme, which left a net loss of more than 500 billion baht.

The 12 corporatised state enterprises include PTT Plc, TOT, CAT Telecom Plc, MCOT Plc, Thai Airways International Plc, Airports of Thailand Plc and Krungthai Bank.

The other 44 state enterprises will remain under the supervision of the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo).

The draft bill is set to go before the superboard today. Under the bill, the cabinet will take charge of appointing the superboard, which will oversee Sepo and the national holding company.

The superboard, which has 15 members, is chaired by the prime minister.

The 56 state enterprises have combined assets of 11.9 trillion baht. Their total revenue last year amounted to 5.1 trillion baht, up from 1.5 trillion in 2004. They have 425,000 employees.