Bangkok (VNA) – The Department of Local Administration (DLA) of Thailand plans to recheck the answer sheets of all 480,000 people who took its nationwide civil service examination late last year after reports about large-scale exam fraud involving billions of THB in bribes.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has seized the examination papers as part of its investigation.
Speaking on June 25, DLA Director-General Thanon Panpeepas said the department will seek permission from the NACC to retrieve the papers for re-marking using a technology-assisted process conducted under media supervision.
Thanon also said that the recruitment of candidates who were earlier confirmed to have passed the exam will continue. This will protect the rights of honest candidates, while recruitment of those found to have cheated could be revoked later on a case-by-case basis.
Police Lieutenant General Nathasak Chaonasai, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said investigators will identify all the suspects involved in the case and conclude the charges within seven to 10 days.
The investigation followed the arrests of about 10 people, mostly civil servants, who were caught altering answer sheets from candidates who had reportedly paid between 350,000 and 800,000 THB (10,500–24,000 USD) each to ensure they would be hired as local administration officials. Earlier reports said the total amount of bribes could reach 4.5 billion THB.
The suspects were tampering with about 3,000 answer sheets collected from the exam that the DLA had organised to recruit nearly 7,000 staff members./.
Thailand targets high-income status within 12 years
To achieve these goals, the Government has adopted a development strategy based on an “economic team” approach centred on three key priorities - maintaining macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline; developing infrastructure and human resources; and promoting sectors in which Thailand holds competitive advantages.
