68. Torplus Yomnak on transparency & strengthening the judiciary in Thailand

KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast

We welcome Dr. Torplus ‘Nick’ Yomnak, whose anti-corruption work in Thailand has received international recognition, including the United States State Department’s 2021 Anti-Corruption Champion’s Award. He is the Founder and Chief Advisor of HAND Social Enterprise and Assistant Professor at Chulalongkorn University. 01:33: What led Nick to focus on corruption in research and activism 06:00: How anti-corruption research can be put into practice 10:18: Nick’s research; using open-source data of procurement information to locate signs of corruption 12:40: How the Thai government has reacted to Nick’s research, and the role of investigative journalists in publicizing information 16:25: The challenges of keeping up the pressure on corruption cases; the infamous Klong Dan Water Management corruption case (https://www.thaipbsworld.com/former-pcd-chief-and-two-officials-to-pay-10-5-billion-baht-in-infamous-klong-dan-case/) 23:38: The biggest corruption issues and challenges facing Thailand; what the 2021 Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) will mean for Thailand (https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/) 29:39: Nick highlights why increased transparency is so important in beginning to fight corruption 35:15: Indonesia’s KPK and bribery investigations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Eradication_Commission) 38:37: The corruption case of Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister (https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2179752/thailand-acquits-deputy-prime-minister-luxury-watch-scandal), and how this event may actually signal progress