The Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (ONACC) was founded in accordance with the Organic Act on Counter Corruption B.E. 2542 (1999) under the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2540 (1997). The Organic Act entered into force on 18 November 1999, marking the date for the official establishment of the ONACC.
Throughout the past 18 years since its establishment, the ONACC has continuously performed anti-corruption duties as well as cultivated morals within society in order to create a society that has zero tolerance of corruption. The ONACC and the Thai government have identified anti-corruption as a nationalagenda with the announcement of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy: Phase III (2017-2021) calling for integrated efforts and collaboration from all relevant parties to formulate, implement, and evaluate anti-corruption initiatives for effective and sustainable results. Target groups include children and the youth, the public sector (state agencies and political bodies), the private sector, and the civil society.
In terms of cases proceedings, the number of completed cases in the fiscal year 2017 is 4,338 cases, 1.5 times higher than the previous year which saw 2,949 cases completed. Regarding wealth inspection of persons holding political positions and state officials, in the fiscal year 2017, the ONACC conducted investigations that resulted in a 1.5-fold increase in total seizure and devolution of property of the state, amounting to over 850 million baht compared with 186 million in the fiscal year 2016.
In addition, supplementary measures include witness protection scheme, witness retention, and momentary rewards for whistle-blowers reporting useful information that leads to the competent court devolving proceeds of crimes to the state. There will be strict surveillance of procurement management in order to meet good governance and transparency standards. Information on median prices and its sources must be publicly disclosed to allow for public scrutiny. Moreover, the Integrity & Transparency Assessment (ITA) was introduced to state agencies in parallel with the initiative to create a network of corruption intolerance with other parties.
The ONACC Secretary-General revealed: "Our main mission from now on is to raise awareness of ethics and morality among the public. We must correct people's values and attitudes so that corruption is unacceptable and not to be tolerated. Everyone must cooperate to effectively and continuously prevent and suppress corruption, and realise that it is everyone's duty to tackle corruption and protect the national interests. Awareness of deleterious consequences of corruption must be raised among children and the youth, and then expanded to other sectors in order to enlist cooperation from all sectors of the society to completely eradicate corruption from our country."
In celebration of its 18th anniversary, the ONACC is organising various activities at the ONACC Headquarters in Nonthaburi Province during 16 – 17 November 2017 to promote the Zero Tolerance & Clean Thailand Campaign, including a special seminar the NACC Awards 2017 ceremony for agencies whose practices meet ITA standards.
As Thailand is a member of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption or UNCAC, all parties concerned have to join forces to act against all sorts of corruption to enhance the country's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) to meet the Transparency lnternational (TI) standard. As such, the NACC is committed to promoting a corruption-intolerant society, leading to "Zero Tolerance of Corruption" in Thai society.
Help prevent future acts of corruption by reporting malfeasance of state officials or persons holding political positions to the NACC call centre at 1205 or www.nacc.go.th or NACC provincial offices.
