STATE AGENCIES
Three-board limit sought for directors
Jaruvan: Holding any more renders them ineffective
The auditor-general wants state-enterprise directors limited to sitting on a maximum of three boards at any one time. Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka has asked Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula to enforce her recommendation. She made the recommendation to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Council for National Security chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin on Thursday, a well-placed source said. Her letter noted Pridiyathorn was one of 14 people listed as directors of more than three state enterprise boards. The source in the Office of the Auditor-General said the letter encouraged Pridiyathorn to ensure the three-board maximum was enforced at all state-enterprises. Jaruvan argued directors sitting on more than three boards would be too busy to serve effectively. She noted the State Enterprise Employee Act and a Cabinet resolution of May 13, 1980 prohibited a person from holding membership of more than three boards of directors of state enterprises. The source said Pridiyathorn was reminded he was a director of eight state enterprises. The letter noted the total allowance payments he received from these positions. They were the boards of the Bank of Thailand, the Foreign Exchange Fund, the Financial Institutions Rehabilitation and Development Fund, the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Thai Asset Management Corp, the Credit Bureau and the monitoring committees of the SEC and the assets management corporation. Other persons named in breech of the act included Suparut Kawatkul, permanent secretary for Finance, and Wuthipan Wichairat, director of the Budget Bureau. Both are members of 19 boards. Other directors listed were Samart Yolapak who sat on 16 boards, Pichai Choonhavachira, vice president of PTT who was a member of 15 boards and Manoo Liawphairoj who sat on 12. Three others were directors of 10 state firms - PTT president Prasert Bunsumpun, PTT Chemical president Adithep Bisalbutr and Pala Sukhavej, ex-governor of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. The directors-general of the Treasury and Excise departments, Wisut Srisuphan and Uthis Thammawathin, sat on seven boards each.
Budsarakham Sinlapalavan The Nation
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