Mr. Warawit Sukboon, Secretary-General of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), recently addressed the topic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. He noted that it has affected the state’s operations and seems to take a considerable time to resolve.
With news reporting the increase in corruption at all levels, Office of the NACC, by Bureau of Promotion and Integration of Participation Against Corruption, Bureau of Research and Academic Services on the Prevention and Suppression of Corruption, and Bureau of Proactive and Innovation Measures, have therefore worked out Scenarios for Prevention of Crisis Situation: A Case Study of COVID-19. Related information such as official orders, announcements, regulations, and anti-corruption principles, has been gathered and used for in-depth studies in order to propose preventive measures against corruption during COVID-19 and other crises that may arise.
The Bureau of Promotion and Integration of Participation Against Corruption is responsible for the “STRONG – Sufficient Mind That Prevents Corruption” project, which is a mechanism to promote public participation through “STRONG – A Sufficient Mind That Prevents Corruption Club (STRONG Club)” which covers 77 local communities in 76 provinces and Bangkok. The project aims at promoting awareness and intolerance towards corruption. Local communities can jointly monitor and report corruption through “watch and voice” initiatives in their areas.
Furthermore, the Corruption Risk Mapping Project (continual project) engages the general public in finding risk areas for corruption across the country. The Mapping covers various corruption issues in different areas. The continual phase of the project, “Corruption Risk Mapping in the COVID-19 Crisis” includes collection of information and analysis under the framework of risk assessment approach and scenario analysis, comprising the following steps:
1. Analyse information since the beginning of the epidemic in relation to state policy to plan for future operations and find possible corruption during COVID-19.
2. Cooperate with provincial NACC and STRONG Club network to explore and analyse possibilities and chances of corruption that might arise in the future.
3. Gather, analyse and show the Risk Areas for Corruption Map to express risk issues and corruption in each area and prioritise chances of corruption. These require coordination with the network nationwide to get reports of corruption in each area.
4. Continually monitor, track and update information in order to obtain the most recent information from each area so that the map dynamically maintains current information.
The NACC is analysing possible chances of corruption during COVID-19 in accordance with the framework of risk assessment approach and scenario analysis using information gathered since the beginning of the spread of the novel coronavirus. The analysis is in accordance with the state policy for the future “watch and voice” operation which is divided into three major areas:
1. Efforts to control and prevent COVID-19 and future occurrences;
2. Remedies and welfare for those who are affected economically and socially by state actions to control the virus outbreak which might lead to attempted corruption;
3. Implementation of other programmes that are not directly relevant to the COVID-19 crisis. Other epidemic situations can attract the attention of people, thereby risking corruption during this time.
The Secretary-General added: “Corruption risk mapping is to encourage participation of the general public to monitor and report corruption across the country during the spread of COVID-19 and that can help prevent and suppress corruption in time. Moreover, we can have systematic data collection to provide a database that further supports our future operations.”