Happy Chinese New Year. We hope you got a big bonus, or at least a little ang pao from your parents, your rich auntie or the government. (Note: victims of Southern unrest, the war on drugs or torn eardrums are not eligible for governmental ang pao. Nor is being unable to shop at CentralWorld for two months considered serious mental trauma.) After all, as much as we love the tinsel and beer gardens around Christmas, January is our real season for giving.Our hearts warm as policemen pay cheerful visits to Chinatown shops and depart with little red envelopes. Our accountants dress their best to bring baskets brimming with healthy beverages to the tax department. Even our condos’ security guards receive liquid donations to shut up about who stayed over while the wife and kids were upcountry visiting family. It’s a magical, philanthropic and very creative time.The Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), though, doesn’t share the love. In fact, they see random acts of kindness in a very different light. When students return from England with their old, used cars (a very, very well maintained, 2012 model Mercedes for example), the PACC does not congratulate them on the excellent grades that prompted their fathers to stuff their ang pao with a German automobile. Instead, they investigate.Nor do the PACC’s buddies at the NACC (that’s the National Anti-Corruption Commission to you and me) marvel at how one man can come up with some spectacularly ingenious décor solutions to elegantly store a one-billion-baht dowry in his home—without the bride even noticing! Surely, that must be worth a nod from Baan Lae Suan, maybe even a design award? Nah, the grumps from the NACC prefer to investigate.The list goes on. The PACC (them again) are also looking into B33 billion baht the President Agri Trading Co imaginatively borrowed using some allegedly fake rice contracts. Is the PACC not impressed by our banks’ generosity towards this humble peasant cooperative? Not at all. They’re investigating.Of course, a change of government will eventually dismiss all these cases before anyone actually gets convicted. So don’t let the penny pinchers’ investigations bring you down. Deng Xiaoping said it best: “To get rich is glorious.” Gong xi fa cai, everyone!