BANGKOK — The Thai military government has approved the draft of a law that will criminalize begging, a common practice in streets of Thailand's major cities.

The new law, which will replace previous legislation on begging enacted 74 years ago, was approved in a Cabinet meeting today, said Maj.Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a government spokesperson.

Named the Control of Begging Act, the law is intended to reduce begging and provide panhandlers with rehabilitation and job training programs, said Maj.Gen. Sansern.

Under the act, those who cannot be trained to work – such as children, the elderly, and the disabled – will be sent to shelter homes and provided with welfare assistance. 

According to the draft of the legislation, the following actions constitute begging:

– asking for assets of others with words, texts, or any other gesture, without compensating the giver with any form of work or assets. (The clause excludes asking for money from family members and lawful charity fundraising)

– committing any gesture that compels others to donate assets out of pity without compensating the giver with any form of work or assets.

The spokesperson said that busking and other types of street performance will not be considered begging, but that performers will be required to inform local authorities and comply with guidelines set by law enforcement officials.

The law will also punish individuals who encourage begging, beggars who escape shelter homes, buskers who do not obtain permission from local authorities, and individuals who coerce other persons to beg for their own benefit. Foreign beggars will be deported to their home countries. 

"We have also instructed the Ministry of Social Development to study other laws about providing assistance to beggars who are … in dire situations in order to help them escape the status of being beggars, and to take care of and rehabilitate them, so that those individuals can look after themselves in the society," Maj.Gen. Sansern said. 

The new law will replace the existing law on begging, enacted in 1941, which did not make any distinction between begging and busking. 

Beggars are common in many parts of Thailand, especially in metropolitan areas and popular tourist locales. NGOs and state agencies say many of the beggars, especially children, are victims of human trafficking by crime syndicates. The Mirror Foundation, a prominent charity organization focused on combating child trafficking, has repeatedly urged members of the public not to give money to children, but alert authorities to rescue them instead. 

Since seizing power from an elected government in a military coup d'etat in May 2014, Thailand's military government has cracked down on organized crime and publicized efforts aimed at curbing human trafficking. 

BANGKOK — Former chief of the Division of Special Investigation (DSI) Tharit Pengdith has accused Thailand’s national anti-graft agency of participating in an effort to smear his reputation.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is investigating Tharit for potentially corrupt practices during his tenure as head of the DSI, and announced yesterday that 40,954,720.58 baht worth of his assets have been frozen.

The NACC said the freeze will be lifted if Tharit is determined to be innocent. The former DSI chief was also ordered to declare the financial assets of his family to the NACC in 30 days. 

"I believe this action by the NACC is a part of the movement to discredit me," Tharit told Khaosod. "I have always been one of their top targets." 

Tharit told Khaosod he has been a frequent victim of political attacks because of his oversight of major legal cases such as the investigation into the deadly military crackdown on Redshirt protests in 2010, and lawsuits against leaders of the anti-government protests that preceded the May 2014 coup d'etat. 

"As the director of the DSI, I was responsible for many important cases against political groups, such as the attempt to obstruct the election," Tharit said, referring to the anti-government protests' effort to block the 2 February 2014 national poll. "These people are influential people of Thailand. After I left my post, these people have taken legal actions against me in every way. They sued me in the Criminal Court for 30 cases, and the court has already acquitted 19 of them. They also complained to the NACC. They complained to the Ministry of Justice. And they used many other methods."

Tharit, who became director of the DSI in 2009, was ousted from his position several days after the military overthrew an elected government in May 2014. Anti-government protesters accused Tharit of being an instrument of the Redshirt movement, which supported the government toppled in the coup.  

The NACC said it launched the investigation into Tharit's assets because the former DSI chief was seen as "unusually wealthy," NACC sec-gen Sansern Poljiak said yesterday.

Tharit vowed to fight the accusation. "Eventually, these discredit attempts and this bullying has to be ruled by the court of justice," Tharit said. "Including the issues of NACC's freezing of my assets. Everything has to be in accordance with the system of court of justice. I am willing to fight every case against me to the Supreme Court. I am confident that I will be granted fairness." 

Since the May 2014 coup, the NACC has pursued legal cases against members of the former government, including former PM Yingluck Shinawatra, who was retrospectively impeached in January on charges of negligence. As a result of the impeachment, Yingluck has been banned from politics for five years. 

The NACC has also charged former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy, Suthep Thaugsuban, with "abuse of power" for authorizing the military crackdown on Redshirts in 2010. If their case is passed on to the junta's interim legislature, the pair could also be banned from political office for five years.