NACC employees issue second statement amid gold bribery scandal

Staff at Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) have issued a second statement calling on the judiciary and legal professional organisations to apply ethical standards and examine the use of the NACC’s powers in connection with a bribery scandal implicating one of its commissioners.

The staff said they had previously issued an initial statement demanding that the implicated commissioner take responsibility by voluntarily resigning, but their call has gone unheeded.

As government officials, they said they are bound by regulations that limit what actions they can take in relation to the matter, adding that their silence should not be interpreted as indifference to the bribery scandal.

The commissioner implicated in the case, Ekkawit Watchawalku, has recently been removed from the NACC pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

Ekkawit has been accused by Pol Col Phakphum Phisamai, a former close aide to Surachate Hakparn, the dismissed former national police chief, of receiving gold bars weighing 3.75 kilograms and worth approximately ten million baht.

The gold was allegedly delivered by Phakphum at a gathering of the Association of the Southerners in September 2024.

According to the allegation, the gold bars were given to Phakphum by Surachate for delivery to Ekkawit in an attempt to settle a case in which Surachate was under investigation by the NACC for malfeasance in office related to alleged links to online gambling networks.