The graft-busting agency, which specifically covers the civil-service sector, made the move in hopes that the general would take swift administrative action through the use of Section 44 of the interim constitution to cut through administrative red tape and impose sanctions quickly.
PACC secretary-general Prayong Preeyachit handed the list of names and supporting evidence to Gen Prayuth, who also heads the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), through a representative at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The anti-corruption campaign is being carried out as part of 11 areas of national reform prioritised by the NCPO.
Mr Prayong said the 100-plus officials on the list, from public-sector organisations across the country, had been accused individually of corruption and the PACC’s subsequent investigations found enough evidence to pursue the allegations.
He declined to disclose the names of the accused.
Mr Prayong quoted Gen Prayuth as saying that bringing charges against crooked civil servants was a time-consuming process and did not provide immediate results. The general would prefer to see offenders swiftly and decisively slapped with existing disciplinary or administrative penalties.
Any criminal proceedings would proceed normally, he noted.
Whether Section 44 will be exercised to punish the corrupt officials would depend on the prime minister, Mr Prayong said.
The PACC secretary-general said his agency would continue to submit names of allegedly dishonest public servants to the premier every month. Most of the accused face corruption complaints from four anti-graft agencies – the PACC, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Auditor General and the Monitoring and Auditing Committee on Fiscal Expenditure.
Asked how the PACC would solve the problem of corrupt high-ranking officials who sometimes get away with their crimes, Mr Prayong admitted that a lone anti-graft agency may not have enough authority or evidence to expose them. The PACC needed to team up with other agencies, such as the Department of Special Investigation, he said.
“In some cases, if nothing can be done even after we’ve tried our best, we may need to amend the law,” Mr Prayong said, adding that all corrupt officials, regardless of their positions, must be brought to justice.
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