Several public officials in Thailand are apparently guilty of submitting false disaster reports to claim funds from the emergency relief fund. The fact itself is not that exciting in Thailand, a country where corruption has become a household name. What’s more interesting is one of the main reasons public officials were able to do it – “disaster” was not clearly defined in regulations.
Weak legal definitions are one of the understated root sources of corruption. In Russia, for instance, the legal definition of government official does not cover all public servants, which means that some get a pass from the anti-corruption legislations enacted by Russian authorities.
Published Date: February 17, 2010