A new centre has been set up to hear complaints about graft from potential foreign investors, in a bid to boost investor confidence, Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) secretary-general Prayong Preeyajit said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a public relations seminar, Mr Prayong said the centre would ensure foreign investors of fair treatment, and he hoped this would be a factor in them deciding to invest in the country.
The PACC had already reached agreement with the Board of Investment (BoI) on cooperation in eliminating corruption, in order to convince investors of attempts by state agencies to improve transparency.
It was hoped the new complaints centre, as a channel to enable investors to quickly make their complaints heard, would help spur economic cooperation with other countries, he added.
Duangjai Asawajinjit, deputy secretary-general of the BoI, believed the centre would help increase foreign confidence in Thailand and encourage them to invest here.
Mr Prayong also declared said that since the establishment of the Centre for National Anti-Corruption, chaired by the prime minister, the suppression of corruption had improved.
In the past, malfeasance and corrupt practices by government officials had been a major problem. Therefore, the Centre for National Anti-Corruption had been given the power to propose the transfer of officials under suspicion to other positions, pending investigation.
As a result, three groups of government officials suspected of graft had already been transferred, as proposed by the CNAC. They included 170 executive-level officials. A fourth list of officials to be similarly transferred was expected to be announced soon, Mr Prayong said.
The PACC secretary-general said the government had also tried to expedite the legislation of corresponding laws, including a bill on hiring and procurements which is intended to replace the existing law, which is only a Prime Minister's Office regulation.
This bill was submitted to the cabinet on Tuesday for further consideration. If forwarded to the National Legislative Assembly for deliberation and passed into law it would set down clearer punitive measures for offenders, he said.
The PACC would also amend related laws to enable it to examine corruption complaints more effectively and with shorter procedures.
For example, an ordinary graft complaint should be investigated right away by officials without having to set up a sub-committee so that the problem could be solved in three months.
Between 2008-2115 the PACC received about 23,000 complaints. Of the total, about 13,000 had been examined. More than 2,000 cases had been investigated, and about 500 of them had been completed, the secretary-general said.