Individual Corruption

Thailand's judicial system functions at a very slow pace. According to Global Integrity 2007, appeals of criminal cases can take 10-15 years to be resolved, while appeals of civil cases can take 5-10 years to resolve. Such drawn-out procedures encourage the bribing of civil servants charged with overseeing regulations to speed up legal procedures and such practice is reportedly common. In Thailand´s Anti-Corruption Strategy 2010 released by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the judicial system is described as weak and continuously manipulated by influential people, such as the Thai mafia and politicians. However, according to Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2010, only a small percentage of the surveyed households who had contact with the judiciary in 2009 reported having paid a bribe.

The US Department of State 2010 reports that the government provides free legal advice to the poor; however, there were NGO reports of instances where these legal aid lawyers forced their clients to pay extra fees directly to them.

Business Corruption

According to the US Department of State 2010, Thailand's judiciary enforces property and contract rights effectively. However, it should be mentioned that the legal process is very lengthy. On a positive note, enforcement of bankruptcy judgments has been eased and streamlined since 2004.

Litigants sometimes influence judgments by extra-legal means, including bribes. According to Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Corruption in Thailand 2004, judges are often not bribed directly, but instead other civil servants within the judiciary may solicit bribes to be distributed to judges, public prosecutors and police. Companies need to be aware that decisions by foreign courts are not recognised in Thai courts and thus cannot be enforced. Therefore, disputes that need to be settled in court and recognised in Thailand have to go through the Thai justice system.

Political Corruption

Corruption and self-interested behaviour is found throughout the political and judicial system. Global Integrity 2007 states that judicial corruption is rampant and that it largely goes unpunished. Judges' decisions are not always impartial and may be influenced by personal relationships. This is supported by the US Department of State 2010, which reports that the judicial system is subject to external influences and corruption, and lacks progress in tackling high-profile cases such as police and military abuse of power. In addition, the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010 also states that the judiciary is corrupt to a certain extent. On a positive note, according to Freedom House 2010, with the new Constitution of 2007, the judicial independence is guaranteed. However, it remains to be seen whether a more impartial judiciary will result from it.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- Enforcing a commercial contract involves 36 procedures and takes an average of 479 days at a cost of 12.3% of the contract value.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business executives give the independence of the judiciary from influences of members of government, citizens, or companies a score of 4.2 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'heavily influenced' and 7 'entirely independent' and the mean of the results of the 133 surveyed countries being 4.1).

- Business executives give the efficiency of the legal framework for private companies to settle disputes and challenge the legality of government actions and/or regulations a score of 4 and 3.9 respectively on a 7-point scale (1 being 'extremely inefficient' and 7 'highly efficient' and the mean of the results of the 133 surveyed countries being 3.8 and 3.7 respectively).

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- Citizens perceive the judicial system to be somewhat corrupt and give it a score of 3.0 on a 5-point scale (1 being 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt').

- 18.8% of households who had contact with the judiciary in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.