NACC Finds B1bn Money Trail as Local Exam Fraud Probe Widens

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in Thailand has uncovered a significant money trail of over 1 billion baht in connection with a major local government recruitment examination scandal. The investigation, which pertains to the 2025 nationwide examination for 6,669 local government positions, alleges that a network charged candidates between 350,000 and 800,000 baht to secure passing results.

In a twist, authorities also discovered that computerized answer-sheet records were altered at a Nonthaburi-based company, with altered scores found for 5,925 candidates. As a result, appointments for 3,404 individuals who had already entered local government service were revoked, while another 1,960 were removed from the eligibility list.

Of the remaining 561 who still passed based on their original scores, 464 were reranked and 97 appointees were referred for further investigation. Thirteen suspects, including 11 local officials, a former Department of Local Administration director-general, and the director of a university's testing bureau, are accused in the initial investigation.

The NACC has collaborated with the Anti-Money Laundering Office to trace the funds and is also examining potential connections to alleged fraud in a 2021 examination for local government executives.

Brief written by urgent.news from Thai Enquirer's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.