BANGKOK THAILAND - Media OutReach - 28 April 2023 - The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) encourages the private sector not to offer bribes to government officers and advises them to impose internal measures to control bribery risks.

NACC Secretary-General Niwatchai Kasemmongkol said bribery was a national problem and there were cases in which bribes were offered for business benefits across borders, affecting the country's credibility and efficiency of budgetary spending. The NACC, therefore, promoted good governance in the public sector to create the "No Gift" culture, he said.

NACC has set up Anti-Bribery Advisory Service (ABAS) Center to provide knowledge and guidelines to the private sector concerning the laws on offering bribes to government officials and to have appropriate measures to prevent bribery. This will lead business to be transparent operations with good governance and sustainable growth.

In addition, NACC also has rules for prosecuting private sector firms involved in bribing government officials and those working in international agencies. The rules have been issued to make private sector firms aware that they could be prosecuted if they are involved in corruption.

Mr. Niwatchai stated further that bribery should be prevented at both ends – the private sector or the bribe giver and government officers or the bribe taker. Those who offered bribe to government officers were subject to penalty under Section 176 of the Anti-Corruption Act B.E. 2561. Juristic persons who bribed government officers would face large fines, said the Secretary-General.

The NACC encourages juristic persons susceptible to public bribery to clearly identify their expenses for government agencies and impose measures to inspect these expenses.

According to the NACC Act, the value of the gift given to government officers must not exceed 3,000 baht.

The Secretary-General warned that juristic persons or businesses should not pay commissions to government officers for whatever reason to avoid risking breaking anti-bribery laws.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is a constitutional independent organization and supervised by nine commissioners selected from various professions. It is authorised to undertake work on the prevention and suppression of malfeasance, particularly in government agencies, on assets investigations, as well as on the monitoring of ethics and virtues of political position holders.

It has the authority to file charges in court as well as support and build up awareness of the penalties for committing corruption. The NACC is supervised by the NACC Board and has the Office of the NACC as its administrative agency.

Since 1997, Thai Courts have ruled against and punished politicians, former ministers, high-ranking government officials as well as executives of the private sector in the thousands of cases submitted by the NACC.

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