The Education Ministry has vowed to solve its four major corruption cases within the next one-and-a-half years, before the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) hands over power to a democratic government.
Deputy Education Minister Gen Surachet Chaiwong, who oversees the Education Ministry's anti-corruption working panel, said yesterday the panel still has more than 200 corruption cases to deal with, some dating back to 2006.
They include four big corruption cases which have attracted high levels of public interest as several high-ranking government officials are allegedly involved.
Surachet: ‘We are making progress’
The first high-profile corruption case involves the Office of the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Education Personnel's joint 2.5 billion baht investment plan with the Billion Innovative Group in a solar power project in Phetchaburi's Nong Ya Plong district, Gen Surachet said.
The second case involves the 600-million-baht budget allocated for construction of futsal courts in 350 schools across 17 provinces in which synthetic rubber floor sheets meant for the project were determined to be substandard and the prices were three to four times higher than normal, he said.
The third case involves the alleged misappropriation of funds to purchase over 500,000 student uniforms by executives and officers of the Business Organisation of the Office of the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Educational Personnel, or Suksapan, store, with damages estimated between 100-150 million baht.
The final case involves 13 teacher savings cooperatives that allegedly lured members into investing in a bogus scheme.
The network allegedly told members that if they deposited 1,000 baht a month, a loan of up to one million baht would be available to them. Billions of baht in losses were reported.
"Many corruption cases at the Education Ministry were left unsolved for many years, so we will try to get it all right because we don't know whether these cases would be touched under the administration of the next government," Gen Surachet said.
Gen Surachet claimed that since the anti-corruption panel was set up last year, it has solved more than 300 of 610 corruption cases in its five key agencies.
"I'm satisfied with the performance of the anti-corruption working panel. Nevertheless they still have a lot of work to do this year if they are to complete their task on time," he said.