Thailand marks Int'l Anti-Corruption Day

BANGKOK, December 9 (TNA) - Thailand's Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has organized an event marking the International Anti-Corruption Day, which falls on every December 9. NACC, in cooperation with other agencies in the public and private sectors, as well as the civil society, organized the event on Friday, themed “Follow the Late Thai King Path to Honesty and Do Good Deeds for the Nation.” Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha presided over the opening of the event at Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, while NACC Chairman Police General Watcharaphon Prasanratchakit delivered a speech on expediting the third phase of the five-year national anti-corruption strategy (2017-2021). The NACC chair said Thailand was ranked the 76th place, among 168 countries, in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in 2015, with a score of 38 out of 100, and was ranked third among 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), indicating that corruption in Thailand remained a critical problem needed to be addressed. Meanwhile, NACC’s vision, raised by the independent anti-graft chief, includes creating a proper awareness in the Thai society, through six strategies, that corruption is unbearable and needs to be put to its end. Besides, a system must be developed to prevent corruption in a proactive approach, in parallel with a reform on existing corruption prevention and suppression mechanisms and procedures so that Thailand's CPI would surpass 50 per cent in the future, as targeted by NACC. (TNA)