CORRUPTION AND DEMOCRACY IN T ut revelations concerning corrupt pra have continued to be a key part of the political scene. issu s the relationship between the corruption and democratization? The relationship clearly complex. Th military junta carried out the 1991 coup justified th to seizure of power and dismissal of parliament as a move counter corruption response, the opposed to rule hinted at military corruption sales, and attention to so unusually large investments made by a leader of the coup junta the politicians originally branded as 'unusually rich' by the National Peace Keeping Council (NPKC), was suddenly declared innocent and promptly named leader of a military backed political party, Samakkhitham. Several others on the list of unusually rich subsequently followed the same route. When the coup leaders formed a government in April 1992, three of those they had accused of becoming unusually rich' a year earlier were offered posts in the cabinet. Corruption has become a key variable in the debate on who should rule, and how fast and how far the nation should progress along the road to democracy. Yet members of the military junta which made the coup against the elected government in February 1991 on grounds of corruption were themselves with the suspicion of corruption and only prepared to make with people they had recently branded as corrupt. This out by past in Thai politics and administration. Then with this background it moves on to analyse an issue in Thai politics at the present corruption has become examine the impact of the corruption time. Finally to democratic politics. issue on the development of Studies of corruption in Thailand There is a relatively extensive literature on corru extending back several decades. But this l ption it almost exclusively with the cultural roots of ature is n pt concerned