Historical Perspective

Before 1975 the intensity of corruption in Thailand was obvious. The awareness of corruption began to show up in the Government policy. In addition, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2517 (1974) Section 66 stated “The State should organize government service works and other works efficiently and should take all steps to prevent and suppress the quest for benefits by corruption means. “ In this connection, the Counter Corruption Act was promulgated in 1975 and allowed the establishment of Office of the Commission of Counter Corruption (OCCC). However, because of the limitation in jurisdiction, OCCC had little power to combat corruption.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2540 (1997), therefore, added the checks and balances of State exercise by the people in order to have integrity and transparency in the politic. In this regard, the new independent government agencies like the National Counter Corruption Commission, the Constitutional Court, the Administrative Court, the Office of the Auditor-General, the National Human Rights Commission, the Consumer’s Protection Organization, the Environmental Conservation Organization, and an Ombudsman were found.

Followed the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2540 (1997) the Organic on Counter Corruption B.E. 2542 (1999) was enacted. In this connection, the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) as an independent Commission was appointed in April 1999.

Now the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2550 (2007) is to achieve the common objectives of the Thai people and to encourage the people’s role and participation in the government of the country and the actual check on the use of State power and also to support honest and impartial functions of courts and other independent organization. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2550 (2007) then stated about the National Counter Corruption Commission in Chapter XI (Organs under the Constitution), Part 1 (Independent Organs under the Constitution), Section 246 that the National Counter Corruption Commission consists of the President and eight other members appointed by the King with the advice of the Senate. In addition, Section 251 also stated that the National Counter Corruption Commission shall have an independent secretariat, the Secretary – General of the National Counter Corruption Commission as the superior responsible directly to the President of the National Counter Corruption Commission.

However, the National Counter Corruption Commission has its resolution 40/2551 on 15 July B.E. 2551 (2008) to change the official names of National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) and Office of the National Counter Corruption Commission (ONCC) to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (ONAC) respectively.