A school in Nakhom Pathom’s Bang Len district is under investigation by the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission over the purchase of exercise equipment priced more than 10 times higher than charged elsewhere.
The probe of Bang Len school is just one of several under consideration by the graft-busting agency, which will use the Nakhom Pathom case as a guideline for inquiries at other campuses.
Officials of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and other agencies inspected the playground equipment at Bang Len school in Nakhon Pathom on Jan 14, 2015. (PACC photo)
The PACC announced Monday the decision examine the purchase contract for equipment installed on the school's playground after discovering the gear had been bought for 980,000 baht, while identical equipment at Wat Bung Lad Sawai in the same district cost the state only at 85,000 baht, according to PACC secretary-general Prayong Preeyajit.
The contract was signed by the Physical Education Department.
The decision followed field inspections a day earlier at several schools in Bang Len by officials from the PACC, Department of Special Investigation, Anti-Money Laundering Office and Office of the Auditor General.
The PACC also suspects some schools in Ubon Ratchathani and Nonthaburi made similarly inflated purchases, but the focus of the investigation for now will remain on Bang Len school. Mr Prayong said the probe would take about two months to complete.
The agency did not disclose the name of other schools to be targeted, only saying that it suspected 12 other contracts for playground equipment could be inflated.
Four contracts for gym equipment at the Physical Education Department and 12 contracts for the Tourism Department also may be looked at.
Mr Prayong said on Jan 14 that a company in China produced the equipment and he speculated that politicians could be behind the move to pad prices in order to pocket the difference. He did not name the Chinese firm.
Pol Lt Col Pong-in Inkhao of the DSI said the agency was also looking into the contract for Bang Len school and had tracked the importer and manufacturer to determine why the price was unusually high.
The Physical Education Department and its contract party could have violated the Anti-Collusion Act, said the official, who is in charge of security cases for the DSI.