Corruption may take many forms and bribery is just one of the acts defined as corruption. The issue spreads into international business transactions, consequently undermining fair market competition.
In Thailand, bribery has been a major obstacle to the country’s development, especially in the area of large-scale public procurement. Aware of the importance of this problem, the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has joined hands with the private sector in curbing bribery in order to promote business operations on a sustainable basis.
Recently, it gave a briefing on knowledge of laws and measures against bribery of state officials. The briefing was given online to 250 employees from a large corporation, which aimed to set its appropriate internal control measures to prevent bribery, in line with international standards.
According to the NACC, Section 176 of the Organic Act on Anti-Corruption, B.E. 2561 (2018) is concerned with offences of bribery of public officials, foreign public officials or officials of public international organizations, and liability of juristic persons involving in such bribery.
It states that any person who gives, offers to give, or promises to give any property or benefit to a public official, foreign public official, and official of a public international organization with an intent to induce such person to wrongfully perform, not perform, or delay the performance of any duty in his or her office shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht or to both.
In case the offender is a person associated with any juristic person and the action was taken for the benefit of such juristic person, provided that such juristic person does not have in place appropriate internal control measures to prevent the commission of such offence, the juristic person shall be deemed to have committed the offence under this Section and shall be liable to a fine of one to two times of the damage caused or benefits received.
The NACC has established the Anti-Bribery Advisory Service (ABAS) to provide information and advice on anti-bribery measures and good international practices for juristic persons. More information can be obtained at the website www.nacc.go.th/abas.
Source: The Government Public Relations Department