RATCHABURI - Dozens of officers at Ban Pong district police station were startled when they went to withdraw money from their bank accounts after their salary was paid on March 26 and found a huge shortfall in their wages.
Police officers at Thanyaburi station in Pathum Thani province line up to welcome National police chief Adul Saengsingkaew who inspects the unfinished police station on Feb 1, 2013. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
About 70 policemen of varying ranks with salary accounts at Krungthai Bank complained they were left with only one or two thousand baht to live on.
Snr Sgt Maj Boonthin Nimnual, a squad leader, said he receives a total monthly income of 25,230 baht - a 22,230 baht salary plus a 3,000 baht position allowance. His payments are 1,000 baht for cooperative debt service and 14,120 baht of debt repayment to the Government Saving Bank (GSB). However, only 1,943 baht was paid into his account, a shortfall of 8,167 baht.
Snr Sgt Maj Anusorn Timhom, another squad lader, said his total income is 30,070 baht, with deductions of 19,120 baht a GSB loan and house installments. However, he had only 1,070 baht in the account.
They said many other officers at the same police station faced the same problem, with incorrect payroll credits. One young officer who had no debts at all had only a little more than 700 baht paid into his account, while his salary should be 18,000 baht.
Salary payments for police officers in Ratchaburi province used to be handled by the financial division at the provincial station office, but the task has been transferred to the Comptroller General's Department.
Col Ithipol Chalanayadecha, superintendent of Ban Pong police station, said the station will collect information from all the officers affected, determine the total sum missing, provide them with assistance, find out the cause of the problem and then report the details to the provincial police station.
Manus Chamveha, director-general of the Comptroller-General's Department, said later on Wednesday his department has worked on the new direct payment system with the Royal Thai Police Office over the past three months.
The two systems, old and new, had been working in parallel to enable any adjustments to incorrect information to be made before the start of direct payments in March.
He said the mistake at Ban Pong police station was attributable to wrong information submitted by the station.
Mr Manus said the department would remedy the problem before the end of the day. All the police officers would get the full payment they were entitled to.
The department transferred salaries to a total of 206,578 accounts on March 26, he said.