Bangkok--27 Mar--The Thai Institute of Directors Association
The Collective Action Coalition against Corruption, or CAC, Friday held an interactive seminar with over 440 coalition members and has found that CAC certified members are ambitiously aiming to extend anti-corruption practices to companies in their entire supply chain. This effort will enlarge the ecosystem of clean business to cover a wider range of industries and become another mechanism by the private sector to eradicate systemic corruption in Thailand.
Private companies join the CAC voluntarily. At present, some 449 companies (including 250 listed companies) have joined the CAC and 96 companies have been certified for having put in place policy and compliance standards to prevent corruption as per criteria set by the CAC.
CAC members attending the seminar have proposed numerous ways for the private sector to help tackling corruption, mostly involving transactions with government offices. One of the proposals is to encourage their trading partners to also install clear anti-corruption policy and guidelines, potentially by making it one of criteria in business engagement consideration, Dr. Bandid Nijathaworn, secretary of the CAC said.
“The corruption problem cannot be fixed by only one company or a few companies, but companies affected from corruption must join forces to tackle it together. They have to start by changing the false mindset that corruption problem cannot be solved and show a clear stance that all Thai citizens and all Thai firms are against all forms of corruption,” Dr. Panas Simasathien, Chairman of the CAC, said in a keynote address “The private sector is the hope and solution to corruption problem”.
He said systemic corruption has created three conditions that led Thailand on the path of decline. The first is the unleveled playing field through monopolization or collusion that allows a particular group enjoys inappropriate benefit at the cost of the public.
Secondly, it upsets innovative environment as some operators prefer to pay bribe to ensure safe and speedy government services instead of using the money to boost their competitiveness via research and development activities. Lastly, the systemic corruption also leads to social disparities and unsustainable business operations through poor management of infrastructure projects and utilities, Dr. Panas said.
Besides its full efforts to expand the clean business community, the CAC is also in the process of developing a channel for the CAC members and private companies to provide information about bribery in the bureaucratic system. The CAC will coordinate with relevant parties, including government agencies, to inform them and track their responses to the information provided. On the other hand, the CAC has also launched a website www.thai-cac.com, to be used as information center and communication channel for CAC members to exchange knowledge and experiences in hopes that it will lead to effective installation of anti-corruption policies and practices.
More information about the CAC as well as the lists of member companies and certified companies can be found at: ,,www.thai-cac.com