On the other development, the CAC Council has on January 16, 2015, certified additional 18 companies for having put in place policy and compliance standards to prevent corruption as per criteria set by the CAC, thus, lifting overall certified companies to 96.
According to a survey on 425 executives and directors of private companies during October-November 2014, 54.5% of respondents said their companies are ready to push for the installation of internal anti-corruption policy while another 20% think their organizations are most ready to conduct such practices. Some 18.0% think their companies are moderately ready while 2.3% and 4.4% believe their firms are less ready and least ready respectively.
Regarding the private sector’s roles in tackling corruption over the next 1-2 years, 69% of the respondents expect the private sector to participate more, with 9% anticipating much more active role from the private sector. Only 3.7% of respondents expect the private sector to have lesser role and 1.1% see a much lesser role, while the remainder 16.2% anticipating a steady role.
“Outcome of the survey clearly demonstrates the readiness and eagerness of the Thai private sector to join the fight against corruption and not leaving the burden solely in the hands of the government. The rising conscious against corruption of the private sector is an explicit signal that it is ready to work in parallel with the government in uprooting corruption in Thailand,” said Dr. Panas Simasathien, Chairman of the CAC.
On severity of corruption problem in Thailand over the past year, 28.9% of respondents see the problem worsen substantially while 10.8% think the situation worsen slightly. Meanwhile, some 31% see the situation improved slightly while 2.5% see substantial improvement. The remainder 25.1% think the level of corruption problem stay unchanged.
Of those who think the situation worsen, 48.9% believe it was a result of weak law enforcement and prosecution of corruption cases while 40.9% think it owe to absence of effective and transparent process of government services. Some 29.1% see unclear legislations that open loopholes for corruption as the cause while 28.4% think the situation worsen because there is inadequate engagement from the private sector and civil society in tackling corruption.
And of those who think the situation has improved, 44.9% think the improvement was a result of more engagement of the private sector and civil society while 44.7% believe strict law enforcement and prosecution against those committed corruption were the reason. Meanwhile, 36% think improvement in effectiveness and transparency of government services helped while 22.8% believe improvement in legislations played a part.
“The fact that many business leaders don’t see improvement in corruption situation despite serious efforts by various parties reflected the depth and severity of corruption problem in the Thailand. All of us do need to dedicate more and work hard hand in hand in tackling corruption,” Dr. Bandid Nijathaworn, secretary of the CAC said.
Private companies join the CAC voluntarily. As of end-2014, some 406 companies (including 212 listed companies) have joined the CAC, up by 138 companies from 268 at the end of 2013.
List of 18 companies being certified by the CAC in 4Q14
1) CIMB Thai Bank Public Company Limited
2) Precious Shipping Public Company Limited
3) Surapon Foods Public Company Limited
4) One Asset Management Limited
5) TSFC Securities Public Company Limited
6) The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited
7) SCB Securities Company Limited
8) SCB Asset Management Company Limited
9) Central Pattana Public Company Limited
10) Asia Plus Securities Public Company Limited
11) Asia Plus Advisory Company Limited
12) Kiatnakin Bank Public Company Limited
13) Thanachart Training and Development Company Limited
14) Thaicom Public Company Limited
15) Asset Plus Fund Management Company Limited
16) KGI Securities (Thailand) Public Company Limited
17) Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited
18) Thai Optical Group Public Company Limited
More details about survey result can be found at: http://www.thai-iod.com/th/news-detail.asp?id=191
More information about the CAC as well as the lists of member companies and certified companies can be found at: , http://www.thai-iod.com/th/projects-3-detail.asp?id=2
Background
The CAC was founded in 2010 to bring effective anti-corruption policy and mechanism into implementation. The scope of CAC focuses specifically on the private sector and it works closely and in parallel with the Anti-Corruption Organization Thailand (ACT)
The CAC was co-founded by eight leading organizations in the private sector including the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand, the Thai Listed Companies Association, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations, the Thai Bankers’ Association, the Tourism Council of Thailand, and the Thai Institute of Directors Association (IOD), which serves as the secretariat and takes a leading role in driving the program. The CAC’s operations are sponsored by U.S-based Center for Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the U.K. Prosperity Fund.