The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has designated local government recruitment exam scandal a special case, citing its scale, complexity and the large number of people implicated.
The case centres on score manipulation and bribery during recruitment exams organised last year by the Department of Local Administration (DLA) under the Interior Ministry.
The initial evidence suggests senior officials, exam organisers, brokers and candidates who paid for altered scores were all involved, Surapong Intharathaworn, the NACC secretary-general, said on Wednesday.
The NACC has established four investigative committees to probe senior DLA officials; other civil servants responsible for exam organisation and results; non‑official actors, including brokers and candidates who paid for doctored scores; and other individuals linked to the wrongdoing.
The NACC will coordinate with the police and the Department of Special Investigation to strengthen the inquiry, Mr Surapong said.
The existence of what appears to be an organised corruption network has seriously undermined public confidence in the integrity of civil service recruitment, he said. It warrants an intensive investigation to identify those who orchestrated, facilitated and benefited from the operation, he added.
The exam scandal first came to light following the arrest of 10 people, mostly civil servants, at a house in Nonthaburi last month. They were found tampering with about 3,000 answer sheets to make them match the announced scores of exam sitters who had passed the nationwide recruitment process.
Further investigation revealed an organised network that collected bribes ranging from 350,000 to 800,000 baht, depending on the desired positions, from people seeking to ensure they got a passing grade.
The Interior Ministry has since found that around 5,000 candidates had scores on their scanned answer sheets that did not match the scores published in the official results following an initial review of more than 15,000 successful candidates who had already been appointed to local government positions.
The NACC investigation could take months or even years, but Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has said that if the Interior Ministry finds clear evidence of cheating, it can immediately sack offenders and take back their salaries.
Reforms on the agenda
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt on Wednesday chaired the inaugural meeting of a fact-finding and legal review committee established to examine the scandal and recommend reforms.
Mr Pakorn described local administration as a cornerstone of Thailand’s democratic system and decentralisation goals, saying the fraud had severely damaged public trust in local governance and the merit-based recruitment system.
He likened corruption to “a cancer”, warning that it had devastated Thailand’s local government system and posed a serious threat to decentralisation, one of the constitution’s fundamental principles.
He said the committee had a rare opportunity to “clean house” by identifying systemic weaknesses and preventing similar abuses from recurring.
He said Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had instructed him to pursue the matter rigorously.
While criminal investigations by the NACC and disciplinary proceedings by the Interior Ministry would continue independently, the committee would focus on closing loopholes, strengthening recruitment safeguards and addressing serious ethical violations by civil servants, said Mr Pakorn.
He said the panel had been given 30 days to complete its work, with an initial report to be submitted to the prime minister by July 15 and a second report by July 27.
The committee will work alongside various law enforcement and regulatory agencies to develop recommendations aimed at preventing similar scandals in the future.
