Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya has assured the government has no plans to dissolve ThaiHealth Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), though he says the body's budget spending must be revamped to ensure efficiency and transparency.
He said several ThaiHealth projects are good and the government must ensure it is run in a way that is worth the money. "The government has no policy to dissolve ThaiHealth. But when something needs to be improved, it must be improved and one must accept the changes," he said.
"We are talking about management of the state budget, not the sacrifices made by any organisation," Gen Paiboon said, referring to the seven board members of ThaiHealth who were suspended on the order of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha under Section 44 of the interim charter.
They were accused of "conflicts of interest", prompting the Auditing Committee on Fiscal Expenditure to freeze its budget allocations to grantees. An inquiry is under way.
Gen Paiboon also said the seven suspended board members could submit petitions to him to seek justice if they felt their suspensions were unfair.
Meanwhile, Yongyud Wongpiromsarn, one of the ousted ThaiHealth executives, denied allegations of "conflicts of interest".
Dr Yongyud admitted some board members had been executives and directors of organisations receiving funds allocated by ThaiHealth, but said they had already resigned from those organisations.
Dr Yongyud resigned from the board of the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (TPBS) and the Family Network Foundation and is about to resign from the committee of the Foundation for Children's Development. All three organisations received funds from ThaiHealth.
The information of the Office of Auditor-General (OAG) is not up to date, he said.
Under ThaiHealth rules, he added, board members could not participate in any subcommittees deliberating the allocation of funds to organisations they were associated with.
Since the government launched its investigation into ThaiHealth last year, the ThaiHealth board has discussed measures to ensure transparency. "We are working to fix regulations to relieve the government's concern over conflicts of interest. But the National Council for Peace and Order abruptly dismissed us," said Dr Yongyud.
He denied allegations ThaiHealth had allocated funds from levy collections on top of so-called sin taxes (taxes on alcohol and tobacco) to tens of thousands of organisations.
He admitted ThaiHealth had allocated funds to as many as 10,000 organisations but currently there were only 2,000 of them, including several state units and local administrative bodies, receiving funds. Only about 10 organisations had connections with the ThaiHealth executives, he said.
Dr Yongyud said the present situation is the biggest crisis to hit ThaiHealth since it was established.
"There are many misunderstandings about ThaiHealth which have built up due to mistrust," he said.
Vichien Phongsathorn, another ousted board member of ThaiHealth, told the media Tuesday reports about conflicts of interest regarding his role as board member are false. Mr Vichien, also chief executive officer of Premiere Group of Companies, insisted that two foundations -- the Social Innovation Foundation, and the Khon Thai Foundation -- which he still chairs did not get any funding from ThaiHealth during his time as a member of the ThaiHealth board, which started on Aug 7, 2014.
Mr Vichien said he resigned as chairman of the Social Innovation Foundation a week after he became a ThaiHealth board member.
The Khon Thai Foundation, which he chairs, did not get new funding from ThaiHealth during his term on the board.
He said the "Khon Thai Kor Mue Noi" (Give Us Your Helping Hands) campaign run by the Khon Thai Foundation, which will run tomorrow until Friday at the CentralWorld shopping complex, is funded by private donations, not by ThaiHealth.
"The government needs to look at us as helpers and allies. Developed countries need active corporate citizens to help the government work," he added.
