Charter to hand NCCC wider powers

Independent bodies to get direct court access

MONGKOL BANGPRAPA

Chon Buri_The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) will be given wider powers to catch corrupt officials at lower levels, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has agreed.

The draft for the new charter will give graftbusters authority to investigate C-8 level civil servants, who are division directors or equivalent, as well as higher-ranking government officials.

The change was proposed by CDC member Vicha Mahakhun, who is an NCCC commissioner. Earlier, it had suggested the commission have the power to target officials of C-9 rank and higher.

Mr Vicha said corruption was prevalent among C-8 level division heads, who are in charge of their respective offices' finances and have to deal with politicians.

Krirkiat Pipatseritham, a former counter corruption commissioner, said the NCCC would be more efficient if it was given powers under the laws governing the Revenue Department and the Anti-Money Laundering Office.

CDC spokesman Pakorn Preeyakorn said the 35 CDC members, who are working on the details of the charter draft at a beach resort at Bang Saen in Chon Buri, had also agreed on a range of other issues.

The Office of the Ombudsman will have added powers to look into cases involving constitutional and judicial agencies accused of malfeasance or dereliction of duty. The agency will also be able to initiate legal proceedings in cases it views as affecting the public interest, without waiting for complaints to be lodged by damaged parties.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will be allowed to seek clarification from the Constitution Court on what laws are involved in human rights cases, Mr Pakorn said. Previously, the NHRC had to send petitions through the Office of the Ombudsman.

The drafters also agreed in principle that the Election Commission will have total power to issue red cards and yellow cards to candidates suspected of poll fraud while election results are pending. After the results are announced, the courts will take over the duty of ruling on such cases.

A CDC sub-panel headed by Jarun Pukditanakul has proposed an electoral system with proportional representation.

The new system would aim at preventing major political parties from gaining an overwhelming majority, which could lead to parliamentary dictatorship and corruption, the drafters said.

The drafters said the party-list system under the revoked 1997 constitution allowed businessmen and political party financiers to rise to power and dominate parties.

Once voted in, they did not feel obliged to carry out their duties as members of parliament, the drafters said.

Mr Krirkiat yesterday presented information which showed the old party-list system was flawed. He cited as an example the Mahachon party after the 2001 general election. None of its candidates won a seat in the House of Representatives even though the party received more than one million votes nationwide. It failed to gain 5% of all party-list votes, which was the minimum requirement for a political party to win a party-list seat under the '97 charter.

Bangkok Post

Monday April 09, 2007