Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya has vowed to push for a state procurement law to better combat corruption in state projects.
Government procurement projects are currently governed only by procurement regulations, which are not enough, he said.
The proposed legislation would require relevant ministers and senior government officials, who have the authority to approve projects, to sign their names as proof of their approval. This would show who is responsible if any subsequent corruption takes place.
Gen Paiboon cited the corruption in the controversial 600-million-baht school futsal pitch scheme. He said politicians had only verbally ordered procurements, but officials at the operational level had to follow the instructions.
Authorities are now investigating substandard and overpriced futsal pitches at hundreds of schools in the Northeast.
In light of this, legislation is needed to protect government officials from prosecution, Gen Paiboon said.
The justice minister also said he agreed with the idea that government officials from C-7 or level 8 upwards should be required to declare their assets and liabilities.
Gen Paiboon said he did not object to the proposal that three anti-corruption agencies under the Justice Ministry — the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo), and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) — be transferred to work under the supervision of the Prime Minister's Office.
In fact, the three agencies previously came under the PM's Office, he said, adding that relevant laws must be amended to accommodate the proposed transfer as part of civil service reform.
Regarding another proposal for the merger of the NACC, Amlo, and PACC, he said details were still vague, although he said he had no reason to be against it if the merger would help in civil service reform.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha maintained there is a lot more to be done to tackle corruption, even though the country's transparency ranking has improved.
In his weekly television address last night, he said he welcomed the improved standing of Thailand on Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
In the CPI for 2014, Thailand's standing improved by 17 places to No.85, from a total of 175 countries. Last year, Thailand was ranked at No.102.
The issue of corruption prevention and suppression is an urgent national agenda item, because corruption is the main source of the country's various problems, he said. It also causes social disparities, obstructs the improvement of the country's competitiveness and reveals a crisis of "virtues and ethics" of people in society.
"I will not ignore misconduct, and will bring all relevant matters to the justice system. All unlawful activity will then be handled in accordance with judicial procedures," he said.
Civil servants must prevent the exploitation of the state's gains for any personal interest. They also should be aware of acquaintances who might exploit their relationship for their own personal gains, Gen Prayut added.
"I myself and other members of this government are not involved with any matters of personal gain or benefits. Therefore, I ask that everybody help with this matter," he said.