‘Reset’ looms for graft agency under CDC’s organic bill

NACC commissioners at risk of losing job

The draft of the organic law on the national anti-graft agency has been finished, with key improvements giving more power to the agency to curb corruption while existing commissioners are set to be “reset”.

The Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) has finished drawing up the first draft of the organic law on the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), CDC spokesman Norachit Sinhaseni said.

The bill will be forwarded to the antigraft agency for consideration in seven days, after which it will be returned to the CDC for review. The bill will then be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly, he said.

The 188-section bill will give the NACC more power to deal with corruption among public office-holders while the task of handling cases involving malfeasance will be handed over to agencies which can tackle higher-end cases, Mr Norachit said.

The bill will also enable the NACC to work faster as it will increase the number of investigators who are legal specialists to replace subcommittees set up by the NACC.

Under the bill, the tasks of the NACC’s provincial offices will be limited to only examining assets and liabilities lists, while the NACC’s regional offices will be increased to no more than 12 in each region.

The regional office will supervise the provincial offices in the region and will be responsible for initial investigations, Mr Norachit said.

He added that provisional sections under the bill also call for a partial reset of the anti-graft agency.

This means when the bill is enacted, any existing members who do not meet the new stricter qualification requirements under the new constitution will be removed. A selection panel will be set up to find new members to fill the positions, Mr Norachit said.

The CDC spokesman also gave an update on the current status of the 10 bills organic to the constitution drafted by the CDC.

The CDC must finish and submit them to the NLA within 240 days of the enactment of the constitution or before Dec 1.

An organic bill governing the Election Commission became law on Sept 14 after it was published in the Royal Gazette the previous day. It was the first of 10 organic bills drafted by the CDC to come into force.

An organic bill trial procedures for cases involving political-office holders was the next to take effect — on Sept 28, he said.

Mr Norachit said the CDC is expected to submit the organic bill on the Senate to the NLA on Nov 21, while the bill on the election of MPs is expected to sent to the NLA on Nov 28, he said.

Regarding the bill on the Constitutional Court’s trial procedures, the NLA voted to accept it in its first reading on Sept 28 and it is now being vetted by an NLA scrutiny panel.

The bill on the state audit passed its first reading by the NLA on Aug 31.

It is now being scrutinised by an NLA panel and it is expected to be tabled for the second and third readings by Oct 19, Mr Norachit said.