BANGKOK, March 10 – Thailand’s leading private companies viewed that the country’s corruption problems in the past two years have become more severe, while attempts to reduce the problem has improved, resulting in lower expenses on corruption.
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was recently conducted and presented at a seminar organised by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) and the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand.
Conducted among leading private companies by the Thai Institute of Directors during March-April 2013, he survey indicated that 93 per cent of 1,066 respondents viewed that the corruption level in Thailand is seriously high, while three-fourths or 75 per cent viewed that corruption continues to be practiced in the country.
Corruption was mostly conducted in three forms — exploiting political positions to benefit one’s own group of people, bribing with gifts or money, and corruption at policy level.
Industries with the highest tendency of corruption is telecommunication, energy, public utility and agriculture.
The survey pointed out that corruption causes the private sector higher spending of at least 10 per cent. Corrupt practices are mostly found in the public sector’s procurement, permissions and licensing and the government’s bidding projects respectively.
However, related studies conducted in 2013 found that losses due to corruption dropped significantly that year from 52 per cent in 2011 to 20 per cent.
