A preliminary probe has confirmed the permanent secretary of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry (SDHSM) and his deputy are implicated in the nationwide embezzlement scandal involving funds intended for the destitute, Social Development and Human Security Minister Anantaporn Kanjanarat said Thursday.
Puttipat Lertchaowasit, the permanent secretary, and Narong Kongkam, his deputy, were last month transferred to inactive posts at the Prime Minister's Office while an investigation into the state funds fraud expanded nationwide, after the scandal first emerged in Khon Kaen. The transfer was ordered by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Findings from a preliminary investigation probing their alleged involvement in the scandal were reported to the minister on Wednesday and he had since approved the investigation report, said Gen Anantaporn. He had also assigned Phraiwan Pholawan, acting permanent secretary for social development and human security, to form a panel to conduct a disciplinary probe against the two. They could not be reached for comment.
The scandal came to public attention this month after Panida Yotpanya, 22, a social science student at Maha Sarakham University, and three friends working as interns at the Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute, lodged a complaint with the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). Under the SDHSM's supervision, the centre handles the budget for the underprivileged and HIV patients. They claim they were ordered by the centre director Phuangphayom Chitkhom and other senior officials to fill in forms and sign receipts for 2,000 villagers, worth nearly 7 million baht.
The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC)'s initial probe found there were sufficient grounds for an investigation. The agency is widening the probe to other welfare centres across the country.
So far traces of corruption have been found in 53 provinces in what appears to be systematic and coordinated criminal activities given a shared consistent pattern of fraud found in the provinces, said Pol Gen Jarumporn Suramanee, a PACC commissioner, who oversees the PACC's probe into the embezzlement scandal. These findings led the PACC to believe it was impossible for those suspects, who are low-level civil servants, to act on their own, he said.
The PACC said the suspects have taken a common approach in the way they falsified financial documents, dealt with situations in which their secrets risked getting exposed, concealed evidence, and swayed witnesses to side with them, he said.
Pol Gen Jarumporn said the PACC's board has agreed to appoint a new sub-committee to probe state welfare centres in eight more provinces, namely Trang, Krabi, Buri Ram, Surin, Amnat Charoen, Kalasin, Nakhon Phanom and Chaiyaphum. The board also approved a proposal to set up a subcommittee to probe alleged funds embezzlement at Chiang Mai's San Kamphaeng cooperatives and a self-help settlement scheme in Buri Ram, which are under the care of SDHSM as well.
Previously, 49 people have been accused of being involved in funds embezzlement in these projects. Since then, 45 more suspects have been identified, bringing the total number of suspects to 94, he said. The PACC's board is also asking the SDHSM to transfer the heads of the state welfare centres in Trang, Chaiyaphum and Buri Ram to make way for the PACC's probe after the heads were found to have been meddling with evidence and witnesses, Pol Gen Jarumporn said.
