The former rector of the King Monkut’s Institute of Technology Lat Krabang (KMITL) denied involvement of the embezzlement of 1.4 billion baht in cash from the public university.
Thawil Phuengma, who was KMITL's rector from July 2012 to November 2013, said Monday he saw no irregularities in bank transaction while rector. During that time, he signed for withdrawals of money and examined balances and found none missing.
Thawil Phuengma, former KMITL's rector and his assistant Sapasit Nimnorarat meet the police to clear themselves on the 1.4-billion-baht embezzlement case. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
"Documents presented at that time showed normal transactions when I was the rector. However, I do not know if there were forgeries or alteration to fake the transactions," said Mr Thawil, who met with police for questioning over the missing money, which was exposed last month.
He said the rector had a duty to jointly sign for bank transactions, but the institute's finance division would be responsible for depositing the cash into those accounts.
The institute normally has three types of accounts: daily expenses, deposit and salaries, the latter of which requires a password. For the institute's reserve, the bank's transactions depend on deals with banks, as the institution tends to deposit money with banks offering the highest interest rate.
Meanwhile, auditing are done annually by internal auditor as well as an external agency, such as the Office of the Auditor General, he said.
So far, police have named eight suspects, four of whom have been detained. Investigators were able to track down about two-thirds of the cash that disappeared between 2012 and 2014. The first report was that the missing money totalled about 1.66 billion baht, but later that was revised down.
Mr Thawil said he knew two of the suspects, Amporn Noisamrit, 56, who was the institute's head of finance; and Songklod Sriprasong, 40, former manager of Bank of Ayudhya's Big C Srinakarin branch, as he has used the bank's services, but he did not know the latter personally.
During his tenure, three people were authorised to co-sign bank transactions: Mr Thawil, his assistant Sapasit Nimnorarat and the head of the finance division. Two signatures, one from the administration and the other from the finance division, was needed.
He added that the institute had about three billion baht in its reserve with around 5% increase yearly set aside from the general administration to contribute to reserves.