NACC Explains Personnel Transfers and Position Rotations to Prevent Undue Influence, Plans to Add 1,500 Officials in Anti-Corruption Drive
Thailand's anti-corruption agency is rotating officials every three to four years to prevent misuse of power and eliminate conflicts of interest, while planning to hire 1,500 additional staff to tackle a backlog of cases and combat corrupti
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has explained its personnel transfers and position rotations for officials completing four-year tenures, aimed at preventing concentrated power and eliminating personal conflicts of interest in their work. On March 10, 2025, the Royal Gazette published new NACC regulations signed by the commission's chairman, taking effect March 4, designed to enhance transparency and improve personnel management aligned with the organization's new structure.
The Personnel Management Regulation No. 5 establishes clear duty periods: officials in director positions must be rotated after three consecutive years, while group directors and center directors must be transferred after four years. The NACC emphasized three key reasons for mandatory four-year rotations: protecting personnel and their families in provincial and regional anti-corruption work from threats and intimidation; preventing officials from misusing authority or personal relationships to benefit their work areas; and addressing historical issues where some officials transferred from the predecessor agency remained in the same regional offices, merely changing positions without actual relocation.
The commission stated that in the past, over 3,000 cases were pending, with some important cases exceeding the statute of limitations. However, the current NACC board has reduced pending cases to several hundred and established a two-year case resolution timeline with one-year extensions. Currently, the NACC has over 2,000 personnel nationwide and plans to add 1,500 more within two years to strengthen proactive operations. This expansion is crucial as corruption costs Thailand hundreds of billions of baht annually. Thailand's 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index score of 33 out of 100 placed it 116th globally and 7th in Southeast Asia, prompting urgent action. The NACC stressed that the personnel transfers were conducted transparently by a multi-department committee, though some individuals may object.
