ANTI-CORRUPTION REGIME AND CORRUPTION RESOLUTIONS IN LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT: A CASE STUDY OF SUBDISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION (SAO) IN SOUTHERN PART OF NORTHEASTERN REGION OF THAILAND Pratueng Moung-On A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Public Administration School of Public Administration National Institute of Development Administration 2013 ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation Anti-Corruption Regime and Corruption Resolutions in Local Self-Government: A Case Study of Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO) in Southern Part of Northeastern Region of Thailand Author Mr. Pratueng Moung-On Degree Doctor of Public Administration. Year 2013 _____________________________________________________________________ Research on the systems regarding the anti-corruption regime and corruption resolution in local self-government: A case study of Sub-District Administrative Organizations (SAO) in the Southern part of the Northeastern region of Thailand aims to study the following: 1) Forms of corruption within the Sub-District Administrative Organizations. 2) Anti-corruption systems in Thailand. 3) Problems in the anti- corruption regime and corruption resolution within Sub-District Administrative Organization. A qualitative research method was employed to study documents regarding the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) pressing charges and cases are still undergoing investigations, and also by interviewing 63 key informants with the following results: 1) Most forms of corruption acts within SAOs were mostly related to procurement procedure bidding and hiring and employment cases, and also the misappropriation of income of SAOs and documentation fraud. Third place in the rankings are cases related to bribery regarding promotions and appointments. Most of the cases were against the Chief Executives of the SAOs and most of the acts were done in collaboration with other related personnel such as government officers, employees and other SAO officers. The roots of the cases were found to be initiated iv by government officers and SAO officers especially for misappropriation of income and approval signature fraud. 2) The corruption resolution regimes characteristics in Thailand were mostly comprised of: (1) Many investigation organizations were centered at headquarters including the NACC, which is the main organization for the investigation and elimination of corruption acts. (2) The organizations that investigated related cases were created as a tool to emphasize righteousness and to promote the justice system and morality within government and Thailand’s elite citizens, together with demanding the resolution of corruption within government offices by creating policies and new investigation organizations in collaboration with the existing ones, such as the emerging Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) in the Ministry of Justice. (3) Some investigation organizations’ actions were too idealistic such as the Office of the Ombudsman Thailand. (4) Some investigation organizations which hold the action of the elimination and resolution of corruption issues in Thailand are too complicated and have sophisticated procedures, especially the NACC and the PACC. 3) Problems in corruption resolution within the SAO were caused by the systems where the NACC was too centralized and lacking in communication with other related departments, resulting in delayed in investigations and resolution. This creates opportunities to carry on with acts of corruption until expiration and often resulted in candidates being eligible for subsequent election. Direction and supervision by the Chief District Officer is inefficient because the District Office for Local Administration does not run under the Chief District Officer, which is why there is a lack of cooperation and communication. Moreover, the Chief Executive of the SAO often has a connection with a politician at the national level, and this is the reason why Chief District Officer do not carry out the investigations efficiently because they are terrified that they would be transferred due to their actions. Punishments would be carried out on the Chief District Officer once the cases are thoroughly investigated and is confirmed by the NACC Commission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to Asst. Prof. Dr. Achakorn Wongpreedee, Graduate School of Public Administration, The National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) and Asst. Prof. Dr. Pitch Pongsawat, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, my dissertation supervisors, for their patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this work. I would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Ruangvit Getsuwan, for his advice and assistance in being the committee chairperson. My grateful thanks are also extended to Mr. Prasit Chinudomsub and Mr. Pradit Chinudomsub for accommodation and other supports since I studied in Master’s, to Doctoral degree, Maj. Chalermpol Saributra, The National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Dr. Siwach Sripokangkul, the College of Local Administration (COLA) of Khon Kaen University, Asst. Prof. Dr. Kathanyoo Kaewhanam, Kalasin Rajabhat University, Phengkamon Marnarath and Piyamart Tupmongkol, Faculty of Political Science, Ubon Ratchathani University for useful critiques and supportive encouragement. I would also like to extend my thanks to Faculty of Political Science, Ubon Ratchathani University for scholarship and financial support. Finally, I wish to thank my parents (Mr. Somsak Moung-On, Mrs. Supat Moung-On) and family (Suphenporn Namwat, Duangporn Moung-On, Ketkaew Moung-On and Nongluck Moung-On) for their support and encouragement throughout my study. Pratueng Moung-On April 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x ABBREVIATIONS xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Research Background 1 1.2 Research Questions 5 1.3 Research Objectives 6 1.4 Conceptual Framework 6 1.5 Research Methodology 6 1.6 Scope of the Research 8 1.7 Expected Benefits 9 1.8 Specific Terms 9 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 14 2.1 Corruption: Influencing Factors and Conditions 14 2.2 The Anti-Corruption Resolutions 37 2.3 Literature Review of Other Related Research 41 2.4 Summary of the Conceptual Framework 70 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 72 3.1 Research Methodology 72 3.2 Research Areas 75 3.3 The Selected Sample Interviews 76 vii 3.4 Scope of the Research 90 3.5 Research Tools 90 3.6 Data Collected Methodology 97 3.7 Data Analysis Methodology 98 CHAPTER 4 FORMS OF CORRUPTION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SUB-DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONS (SAOs) IN NORTHEASTERN THAILAND 99 4.1 An Analysis of Corruption Cases Including a Fact-Finding Inquiry with Reference to Resolutions Passed by the NACC (the Making of a Determination) 100 4.2 An Analysis of the Forms of Corruption in SAOs, from the Allegations/ Complaints by the NACC in Pending Cases 134 CHAPTER 5 THE ANTI-CORRUPTION REGIME IN THAILAND 141 5.1 Development of the Anti-Corruption System in Thailand 141 5.2 The Relevant Relationships among the Anti-Corruption Organizations 160 5.3 The Anti-Corruption System in Thailand Budgets 167 5.4 Summary 171 CHAPTER 6 ANALYSES: AUDITING SYSTEM IN SUB-DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONS (SAOs) 177 6.1 Auditing System Issues in a Sub-district Administrative Organizations (SAOs) 179 6.2 The Auditing System Issues at the Region Level (Provincial/District) and the Inspecting Organizations at Provincial Level 190 6.3 Auditing System Issues at the National Level 230 6.4 Summary 240 viii CHAPTER 7 ANALYSIS ON RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RESOLUTIONS OF CORRUPTION PROBLEMS IN SUB-DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONS (SAOs) 244 7.1 Procurement Corruption in SAOs 245 7.2 Corruption in Recruiting Officers of Sub-district Administrative Organizations 260 7.3 Solutions on Solving Corruption in Recruiting Officers of SAOs 269 7.4 Summary 270 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 272 8.1 Summary of Research Results 273 8.2 Research Outcome Discussions 285 8.3 Recommendations 295 BIBLIOGRAPHY 300 BIOGRAPHY 312 LIST OF TABLES Tables Page 1.1 The Corruption Cases of Personnel within the Local Administrative Organization During the 8 Years of Operation (2000-2007) 2 1.2 The Number of Cases being Reported Still in the Process of Confirmation within the Local Administrative Organization Responsible for the Northeastern Region from 2000- March 2007 3 3.1 Number of Local Administrative Organizations in Ubon Ratchathani 76 3.2 Name List of Persons from the Inspecting Group 78 3.3 Name List of Chief Directors of SAOs 80 3.4 Name List of Executive Officers of SAOs 82 3.5 Name List of Government Officers and Employees of SAOs 86 3.6 Name List of Constructors and Related Organizations 89 5.1 Performance of the NACC in 2010 142 5.2 Yearly Budget of Anti-Corruption System in Thailand (6 Organizations) from 2009-2013 168 6.1 Statistics on Pending Cases, New Cases and Considered Cases in Fiscal Years of B.E. 2543-2554 (2000-2011) 231 LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page 2.1 Conceptual Framework Based on the Research of Various Scholars on the Influencing Factors and Conditions for Corruption 35 2.2 A Summary of the Conceptual Framework of the Anti-Corruption Resolutions of the Thai Bureaucracy from the Review of Literature 67 2.3 A Conceptual Framework 70 3.1 Sources and Corresponding Objective Framework 74 4.1 Percentage of the Forms of Corruption in Northeastern SAOs’, which the NACC Successfully