Phuket official held in exam fraud probe

The Phuket permanent secretary is being held at the Phuket provincial police office for intensive questioning by officials from the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the police’s Counter Corruption Division (CCD) over alleged involvement in the Local Administration Department’s (LAD) recruitment exam scandal.

At about 3am this morning, the permanent secretary, Rungruang Thimaboot, began a journey, escorted by police and NACC officials, from Phuket to the Region 9 Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases in Songkhla province, seeking court approval to extend his detention to assist their investigation.

The officials said they will object to his release on bail, on the grounds that he might try to flee, interfere with prosecution evidence or witnesses and that the charges against him carry imprisonment exceeding three years on conviction.

It is not known at the time of this report whether the court will grant bail.

Rungruang is accused by the NACC of demanding 300,000 baht each from three defence volunteers, in return for helping them pass the LAD’s recruitment exam.

The investigation into the exam fraud by the NACC and CCD has intensified as more officials become implicated in the fraud. About 3,000 of some 100,000 who sat the exam last December are reported to have paid officials a total of about 4.5 billion baht to buy their way into the civil service, which promises a basic starting salary of just 15,000 baht.