BANGKOK, 8 September 2014 – The Ministry of Finance has officially launched its latest initiative to rid the country of corruption.
The Finance Ministry’s permanent secretary Rungson Sriworasat chaired the opening on Monday of a new campaign “Zero Corruption” — an initiative aimed at promoting transparency in all government operations while building a greater anti-corruption awareness among the people of Thailand.
Mr. Rungson said that the government’s current procurement process has had no problem with the regulations or the system, but with the personnel involved who lack motivation at work.
Under the circumstances, civil servants are lacking in commitment to carry out their duties and all the processes have accordingly been delayed, he said.
Mr. Rungson stated that the Finance Ministry is planning to review a draft law on state procurement before presenting it to the government for deliberation.
He added that the Comptroller General’s Department has already developed the latest phase of its electronic procurement system that includes the E-market which is a channel for any interested businesses to propose any offer for the government to consider, and E-bidding which is open to all government agencies to state their requirements for a product or service.
This system is expected to be operation before the end of this month, according to Mr. Rungson.
The Finance Ministry’s permanent secretary went on to say that the NCPO and the Cabinet are now reviewing the proposed salary rise for civil servants, which he said will not be as high as 10% as some reports have claimed.
