The House committee on administration announced on Wednesday it had learned there are just 180 active "influential people" in the country, and 10 provinces are totally free of them.
MP Korawee Prissananantakul (Bhumjaithai), chair of the House committee, said the information came from Deputy Interior Minister Chada Thaised and representatives of the Department of Provincial Administration, who met with the committee at parliament on Wednesday.
Mr Chada oversees the government's nationwide campaign to suppress influential people (a metaphor for influential crooks) and is also from Bhumjaithai.
Mr Korawee said Mr Chada's delegation told them 180 influential people were still active and officials also listed 625 former influential people who had already agreed to stop coercing others.
Authorities had yet to work out measures to tame the active influential people, he said. They would continue to monitor the behaviour of the 625 who claimed to have reformed.
Mr Chada said the department reported that influential people were operating in 66 provinces, but the other 10 provinces were free of them. They did not name the provinces, Mr Korawee said, because that information was "classified".
The Interior Ministry defined influential people as those who use influence to coerce others, affecting their bodies, minds, freedom, reputations or assets, Mr Korawee said.
He said the House committee also asked if Mr Chada's arrested son-in-law was considered an influential person. A representative of the Department of Public Administration said officials would find out if he had abused his authority to offend other people.
The House committee referred to the arrest of Weerachart Rasamee, a municipal mayor, on Tuesday in Uthai Thani province for the alleged extortion of a tap water contractor. He is Mr Chada's son-in-law.
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