The Education Ministry has set up two fact-finding panels to investigate the purchase of over 500,000 student uniforms left in a warehouse and 530,000 textbooks which have gone missing.
The panels will probe the executives and officers of the Office of the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Educational Personnel which operates the Suksapan store in regard to the purchase of the uniforms and textbooks.
The move came after the ministry discovered that almost 510,000 student uniforms have been left in the Suksapan store's warehouse since 2006 while more than 530,000 school textbooks have vanished from the same facility without a trace since 2014.
"It's impossible that such a large number of student uniforms can be stocked in the warehouse if someone has not received commissions on the purchase orders," Thanetpol Thanabunyawat, head of the committee to assess Suksapan, said Tuesday.
Mr Thanetpol said all officials in question will be suspended from their duties pending the probe results to ensure transparency in the investigations. If they are found to have committed wrongdoing, they will be dealt with through legal and disciplinary action.
The head of the committee estimated the value of the damage from the student uniforms case at roughly 100 million baht, while the mystery of the disappearing textbooks involves about 150 million baht.
The panel in the student uniforms case will be led by Amnat Wichayanuwat, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec), while the team overseeing the missing textbooks will be led by Winai Rodjai, former education deputy permanent secretary, he added.
"Both panels will have time to find out the truth over 15 days and all suspects can send letters of clarification to the panels by April 27," he said.
Obec's deputy secretary-general Suthep Chittayawong, one of the committee members assessing the Suksapan store, said that according to Obec's inspection, all the student uniforms stocked in Suksapan's warehouse are still in good condition, so it remains possible for Suksapan stores to sell them.