Dr. Joe Chaiwat, a candidate for Bangkok governor from the People's Party, launched "Transparent Bangkok AI Anti-Corruption," highlighting seven anti-corruption measures aimed at returning more than 20 billion baht to Bangkok residents and stressing that relying solely on good people is insufficient.
On 19 May 2026 at the Future Building, Mr. Chaiwat Sataworawijit, candidate for Bangkok governor from the People's Party, held a press conference on Transparent Bangkok AI Anti-Corruption. He stated that corruption has been a severe, chronic problem in Thailand, undermining economic development. No matter how much budget is spent, much ends up in the pockets of a few, preventing full and effective use of funds for national development.
Recently, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) highlighted worsening corruption problems. Just yesterday, NACC charged a former Bangkok civil engineering chief. These issues have long plagued Thailand, involving budget embezzlement from taxpayers and bribery in permit approvals at all levels. Bangkok’s budget exceeds 100 billion baht, presenting an opportunity to address chronic corruption and recover over 20 billion baht for its people—10 billion baht from preventing procurement corruption and another 10 billion from reducing bribery.
As a candidate for Bangkok governor from the People's Party, he proposed the vision of Transparent Bangkok AI Anti-Corruption to enhance budget oversight and combat corruption through AI technology. He believes that a good system makes cheating difficult. Past administrations have seen ongoing corruption: under Governor Samak Sunthornvej, a 6.6 billion baht fire-leveling project was corrupt; under Apirak Kosayothin, 16 rigged bids worth over 20 billion baht occurred; Governor Sukhumphan Boripat faced a 30-year, 190 billion baht bid-rigging case for the Green Line extension; and under Police General Aswin Kwanmuang, there was a 39 million baht case involving city square lighting.
The current governor's administration also faces corruption suspicions in several projects, such as a roughly 4 billion baht EV garbage truck lease, which NACC asked the Cabinet to investigate; procurement of exercise equipment worth over 100 million baht, drawing national attention; and a 194 million baht Bangkok Council repair project, exposed for inflating area measurements by tenfold due to interference by a local faction.
"Corruption projects have occurred across all eras. We cannot rely solely on good people. We must build strong systems that prevent cheating even by those who intend to do so. Today, as the People's Party candidate for governor, I aim to change this. Our party's goal is to systematically eradicate corruption from start to finish," he said.
Mr. Chaiwat explained corruption methods in various projects, citing Bangkok’s procurement of exercise equipment involving specification rigging, inflated price benchmarks, minimal price differences, locked TORs to exclude competitors, shortened delivery deadlines, and bid-rigging using nominee companies as rivals. These practices go undetected because budget proposals are voluminous and mostly on paper, not in computer-processable formats, allowing corruption to remain hidden.
He emphasized that tackling corruption must start with the administration's will and proposed the BKK Redflag AI system under Transparent Bangkok with seven AI-driven anti-corruption measures.
1. Computer-processable budget data.
2. Immediate AI detection of abnormal prices and specifications.
3. AI comparison of prices across projects referencing similar procurements.
4. Price cataloging to close loopholes in median price investigations using BKK e-Catalog.
5. AI scanning of TORs to dismantle monopolies from bidding condition drafting.
6. Network Analysis to break bid-rigging networks by examining connections between bidding companies.
7. Digital file DNA verification to detect bid-rigging documents.
Mr. Chaiwat added that these approaches have been proven effective, but success requires administrative commitment. The People's Party’s leadership in Lamphun Province demonstrated this by using 26.7% less than median budget and achieving the highest savings nationwide.
Corruption has persisted through all governors’ terms, showing that relying only on good people is no longer enough. A good system is essential. If implemented, even the People's Party’s own administration or any governor could not engage in corruption. This is Transparent Bangkok AI Anti-Corruption, ready for development and immediate deployment once Chaiwat and the People's Party team assume Bangkok’s administration.