Five officials from local administrations in five provinces have been arrested for allegedly embezzling more than 23 million baht of local body funds.
The arrests were part of the "Stop Cyber Corruption" operation, which has so far identified about 84 million baht missing from local government funds, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) commissioner Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej said on Wednesday.
Anti-Corruption Division (ACD) officers took the five officials into custody from Nakhon Pathom, Saraburi, Chaiyaphum, Si Sa Ket and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces on Tuesday,
In Nakhon Pathom, a senior finance and accounting official at Ninphet tambon administration organisation (TAO) allegedly stole more than 8.3 million baht, dipping into the funds 23 times, said Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop.
In Saraburi, an assistant finance and accounting official at Nong Hua Pho TAO allegedly took more than 4.9 million baht, over 84 occasions, while an assistant community development official.
In Chaiyaphum, an accounting official at Huai Yai Jiew TAO allegedly embezzled 5.8 million baht on over 60 occasions.
In Si Sa ket, a finance and accounting official at Khok Lam TAO had allegedly embezzled 540,000 baht, dipping into the funds eight times.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, the director of the treasury division at Na Khiang TAO had allegedly embezzled more than 4 million baht, over 59 occasions, including money transfers to his wife and employees who would also be prosecuted, according to the CIB chief. (continues below)
The operation was launched after the Office of Public Sector-Corruption Commission (PACC) notified the ACD that PACC officials found irregularities in the disbursement of budgets at many local bodies across the country via internet banking.
Pol Maj Gen Jirabhop said more than 84 million baht was missing from the local bodies' accounts. He believed there was similar embezzlement at other state agencies.
State-run Krungthai Bank had given full cooperation to authorities that led to the arrest of the five suspects, he added.
ACD police earlier arrested two finance and accounting officials at tambon Lad Yao municipality in Nakhon Sawan and Wang Phrong TAO in Phitsanulok for allegedly embezzling 15 million and 44 million baht respectively, Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop said.
Pol Lt Col Siriphong Sritula, director of the PACC’s corruption suppression division, said money trails of the suspects showed that most of them were online gamblers.
The suspects had turned off notifications of money withdrawals after they received account control passwords. As a result, auditors in higher levels were not aware that money had been withdrawn from those TAO's accounts.
