Govt flooded with graft complaints

More than 3,000 corruption complaints have been lodged with the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) over the past four months.

NCPO deputy spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong yesterday said a total of 3,012 complaints were submitted to the NCPO’s anti-corruption centres nationwide from July 13 to Nov 13.

Of all complaints, 1,024 were received through its hotline, 1,431 by post, 186 submitted at the main centre and 371 others were lodged at the regional centres and military units.

Most complaints were about corruption in state agencies, land disputes, public utilities and delays in obtaining state welfare.

Col Sirichan said authorities have been working on all the complaints, of which 447 were forwarded to the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission of the Justice Ministry for further action.

The agency was proceeding to process 270 complaints.

Legal action was also brought against state officials over corruption claims including price collusion, fraud in disbursement of state budgets to help farmers and flood-ravaged victims, as well as taking bribes from illegal timber operators.

More than 1,400 complaints about public utilities were submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office which has ordered local administrative agencies to devise solutions to the issues.

More than 300 complaints against police, military and anti-drug suppression officers were handed to their parent agencies which had completed probes into 33 complaints.

Authorities also asked complainants for more details relevant to 21 complaints.

The figures were revealed during a meeting of a committee supervising the misconduct of state authorities, chaired by Lt Gen Singthong Meethong, deputy chief of staff of the Royal Thai Army.

Col Sirichan said procedures adopted by the centres to process complaints had also been improved to better sort them by categories and ensure they are handled more speedily.

After being examined by the committee, they will be forwarded to various agencies and the Internal Security Operations Command.

Col Sirichan said the centres were intended to address corruption in state agencies, which is prioritised before other complaints.

She also invited the public to submit complaints along with sufficient information to help officials investigate.