A draft organic law that stipulates more personal information protection for people being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) could be an obstacle to tackling graft, a seminar was told on Wednesday.
The seminar was organised by the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand.
Under the draft organic law, the NACC can only provide the public with a summary of a corruption investigation and must refrain from releasing other information about people under probe.
The proposed law strictly prohibits disclosing 14 specific details such as property addresses, share information, bank account details, the financial institutions they use, or their car licence plate numbers.
The NACC claims revealing such information could potentially threaten the privacy and security of individuals under investigation. The existing law restricts the agency only from releasing sensitive information such as national ID and credit card numbers as protection against malicious intent or identity theft. The bill is being deliberated by the National Legislative Assembly.
Constitution Drafting Committee member Pattara Khumphitak, who helped draft the bill, defended the new rules, claiming there have been numerous occasions where individuals under investigation have been harassed or had their private information used for illegal activities.
Sanoh Sukcharoen, chief editor of Isra News Agency, which is noted for its investigative stories, opposed the restrictions.
"This proposal is literally cutting the arms and legs off independent and public investigation. It is contradictory to suggest that limiting NACC disclosure of information coupled with these criteria promotes transparency and public scrutiny," he said.
Mr Sanoh referred to several graft investigations against politicians that succeeded because of the transparency of information which the NACC gathered and disclosed. "The only trace of corruption we can follow up on as a collective body is from such information that you have just decided to keep suppressed.
"This gives more weight to the protection of suspects than the public interest," he added.
