PM orders government transparency in anti-corruption drive

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has urged governmental agencies to be more transparent and to be ready to share information which could help expose irregularities in the bureaucracy, instead of holding the information on the grounds of confidentiality.

He made the statement at the first meeting of the Anti-Corruption ‘Super Board’ at Government House today, which was attended by representatives of the Thai private sector and relevant government agencies.

During the meeting, the prime minister recalled his unfavourable experiences of a lack of cooperation by officials in providing some information by claiming it is “confidential.”

He said that he has told Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt to remind civil servants that there is already the Information Act, which grants the public access to information held by government agencies unless it concerns national security.

He said that refusal to provide information to the public on the grounds of confidentiality amounts to lack of transparency, which is a tool used in bureaucratic corruption, adding that he has raised the same problem with the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, asking how corruption could be curbed if government agencies keep refusing to provide information which could be helpful in solving the problem.

The prime minister said that, if someone asks him whether there is corruption in government bureaucracy, his answer is yes, adding that, if ten people were asked, it would be the same answer.

He noted that the problem of corruption has affected the confidence of foreign countries and investors in Thailand, leaving them reluctant to invest in the country.