The cabinet's endorsement yesterday of the removal of Pol Col Dusadee Arayawuthi from the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is a big letdown.
The decision is wrong and misguided. It is demoralising, especially for the graftbusters. It also flies in the face of the government's pledge to tackle corruption _ one of its 16 top priority issues.
It is well known that the PACC under the leadership of Pol Col Dusadee has been investigating graft cases in which several government officials and some politicians are believed to be involved.
The colonel himself has told the press on several occasions about the cases under investigation, including one case involving 595 flood relief and rehabilitation projects in six northeastern provinces and another of tax evasion in which some customs officials are suspected to have colluded with a luxury car importer to cheat the government of import duties.
In the case of the flood relief and rehabilitation projects, the ex-PACC secretary-general admitted to the media that he was shocked by the extent of the irregularities uncovered by his investigators.
Investigators instigated random probes into the projects and discovered irregularities in every one that was examined. In one instance they found that a road maintenance scheme was approved for a road in perfect condition which did not need any repairs.
Justice Minister Pracha Promnok, who recommended Pol Col Dusadee's transfer, defended the cabinet's decision.
He insisted the officer's new post as the deputy permanent secretary of justice was a promotion, saying Pol Col Dusadee was now in charge of overseeing illicit drug suppression.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, meanwhile, stressed that the PACC's investigations initiated by Pol Col Dusadee would continue.
However, their comments failed to clear up the suspicion that the abrupt transfer of Pol Col Dusadee was politically motivated.
The colonel himself told the media he was personally informed by Justice Minister Pracha last weekend that a phu yai wanted his removal from the PACC so he could help anti-drug efforts.
Granting the benefit of the doubt regarding the outside interference from the unidentified phu yai, Pol Col Dusadee's removal from the graft-busting job still defies logic and common sense.
Any manager with a modicum of common sense will not fire a good and hard-working staff member but instead support and encourage him to do better.
It is beyond comprehension why an officer who has been doing a good job in exposing the corrupt practices in the government bureaucracy is suddenly shunted to another job in the middle of his investigations. Unless, of course, he stepped on somebody's toes, such as the phu yai in question. Or did the probe into the flood relief and rehabilitation projects prove to be too much for the government to tolerate?
Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong's "white lie" regarding the government's export projection figures rendered a huge blow to the state's credibility in the eyes of the business community.
The treatment of Pol Col Dusadee will only further erode any trust among the public in the Yingluck administration's sincerity in stamping out the scourge of corruption.
All of which will bring the country to ponder the next crucial question: "Do we still need the PACC?"