Hej
Enligt uppgifter i New Mandala http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/09/15/corruption-scandal-junta-failing-its-first-test/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+edu%2FbWcZ+%28New+Mandala%29 ser militärjuntan ut att ha drabbats av sin första korruptions skandal, det gäller inköp och installation av mikrofoner.
Ett rejält överpris på 7,7 miljoner baht har betalats för dessa mikrofoner som dessutom beskrivs vara av gårdagens teknik och inte av det modernaste slaget, inköpet har gjorts mot reglerna utan budgivning, enligt New Mandala är detta den första korruptions skandalen som juntan avslöjas med men säkerligen inte den sista.
Corruption scandal: Junta failing its first test
Days after being sworn in, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s cabinet is already facing its first corruption scandal and seems to be failing the test. Although the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has engaged in wasteful spending that resembles Thaksin’s notorious populist policies, this is the first time that the public has been confronted with hard evidence of suspected corruption.
Last week Panadda Diskul, the Prime Minister Office’s Minister and the Permanent-Secretary of the same office, showed the press a new set of 89 microphones for the cabinet’s meeting room. Fitted with state-of-the-art anti-intelligence technology, each unit cost 145,000 baht. “Now the Thai cabinet is using the same technology as the White House,” boasted Panadda. These microphones are only the first lot of the 192 units to be delivered shortly after. They are part of a larger 255-million-baht scheme for the renovation of Government House approved by the NCPO. Because the renovation is being carried out in haste, it was waived from the normal procurement process. The supplier was chosen without bidding. Suspicion arose when the public investigated and found that the same microphone was displayed on the supplier’s website for only 99,000 baht. The government would have been paying a premium of 7.7 million baht.
This is the first scandal of Prayuth’s regime, but surely it will not be the last. The perfect combination of absolute power and an inactive anti-corruption agency ensures more abuse of power. The NCPO, which has become the cabinet, is relieved of liability by the Interim Charter, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission is notorious for its inefficacy and bias. Despite the public uproar, the Commission announced that no irregularities were found: case dismissed. Assessment of public opinion is difficult because of ongoing suppression. But this should be enough to wake coup supporters up to the cruel reality that only democracy can fight corruption. They should stop justifying military corruption as a smaller and more acceptable corruption, a reward for overthrowing the Shinawatra family. For 80 years, military corruption has never ended civilian corruption. Democracy is not perfect but at least it offers freedom of expression and checks-and-balances, both of which are necessary for the struggle to build a more transparent Thailand.
When a civilian government failed the transparency test, many Thais rallied and invited the military in. For the coup to materialize, they sacrificed economic growth, rights and liberties, the rule of law, and human lives. But when the supposed savior scores badly on the same test, what punishment should be imposed on the junta and its supporters?
Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang is a constitutional law scholar in Thailand
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