Legal Reform of Asset Declaration system: A Strategy to prevent and combat corruption in Thailand

Declaration of assets and liabilities by politicians and public officials can be a powerful tool to prevent and fight corruption. Politicians and public officials are obliged by the Organic Act on Counter Corruption B.E. 2542 to submit an account showing particulars of their assets and liabilities and to disclose such account to the public. It has been acknowledged that a number of the assets declaration reports have been left unverified by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), thus making the system ineffective. The purpose of this study is to examine, analyze, and compare the asset declaration systems in Thailand and in other countries, as well as the problems and obstacles in practice. This study found that in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the asset declaration system, NACC should make it compulsory for all types of public officials to submit an account showing particulars of their assets and liabilities but verify an account only when there are doubts about a submitted account or only for positions with high risk of conflict of interest. The deployment of information technology in the asset declaration system especially for the filing process and the verification process as well as linking the information from other government agencies and private organizations shall increase the efficacy of the system. The disclosure of account showing particulars of assets and liabilities should be required from everyone who is holding a political position and from every public official so that the general public will be able to examine the disclosed information. Finally improving the organizational structure of NACC to be in line with the asset verification system can increase the effectiveness of the system.