National Counter-Corruption Commission found Guilty of ?

The nine members of the NCCC have been found guilty of abusing their power to give themselves pay raises and have each been given a suspended two year sentence. They are all now expected to resign and a new NCCC will have to be formed. There are currently about 1000 cases pending.

The 1997 constitution stipulates that the NCCC members must be selected by a panel including people from five different political parties. Given that there are currently only four parties represented in parliament this poses something of a problem. The 1997 constitution is really looking like a bit of a disaster when you consider what it has led to.

What I can't figure out is, if they voted themselves a pay raise and they had not the authority to do so, then who did they instruct to pay them the extra money and how could this have gotten through the bureaucracy? It seems to me that these judges are guilty only of misunderstanding the rules. If they don't have the authority to raise their own pay, then just don't pay them the extra monay - end of story. How does this end up in jail terms and a dissolution of one of the few remaining checks and balances on the power of the government left? Something really stinks here but not even the normally combative Nation seems to be asking what is really going on here.

Meanwhile the opposition's attempts to bring a censure motion over the airport corruption scandal has nowhere to go, since such a procedure needs to go through the NCCC, which after today will likely no longer exist!