KHON KAEN: New graduate Panida "Bam" Yotpanya, 23, who exposed the tip of the iceberg of nationwide embezzlement of funds for the destitute, started work at a regional anti-corruption office here on Friday.
An excited Ms Panida reported to the Khon Kaen Region 4 Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on Friday morning to begin her new job.
She expressed her gratitude to the government for offering her the job of her dreams. She promised to do her best.
Thongsuk na Phol, acting director of the PACC's Khon Kaen Region 4 Office, said Ms Panida would work as a justice official at the regional office, which supervises 12 provinces in the upper Northeast.
He praised her courage in protecting the national interest by exposing embezzlement in the government sector when she was a university student.
He said the investigation into the misappropriation of funds that Ms Panida exposed was well underway. Next month six suspects would be charged with malfeasance, document forgery and embezzlement, he said.
Ms Panida rose to prominence when she and three other social science students from Maha Sarakham University were working as interns at the Khon Kaen centre for the assistance of the destitute last year.
They revealed that they were instructed to forge documents to illegally disburse financial assistance funds.
Their complaint about payments for the poor being pocketed by officials prompted authorities to launch a investigation into many other welfare centres across the country. In most provinces, investigators have uncovered similar misappropriation of funds for the poor.