PROBE FINDS WELFARE BOSS GUILTY
>> The director and a senior staff member of a welfare centre in Khon Kaen face dismissal after a probe found them guilty of misconduct linked to alleged state fund embezzlement.
The probe result was revealed yesterday, a day after Prime Minister Prayut Chano-cha issued an order to transfer Puttipat Lertchaowasit, permanent secretary of the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, and his deputy, Narong Kongkam, to inactive posts at the Prime Minister’s Office while an investigation into state fund fraud is expanded nationwide following the scandal in Khon Kaen.
Napa Setthakorn, director-general of the Department of Social Development and Welfare, said a disciplinary probe at the Khon Kaen centre found its director and one officer guilty of serious misconduct.
Two other centre officers were found guilty of less-severe misconduct, she said, adding that an in-depth investigation is being carried out before disciplinary action is taken.
Phuangpayom Jitkong, the director of Khon Kaen Protection for the Destitute — an agency under the ministry that helps HIV patients and underprivileged people — and three other officials of the centre were previously transferred to inactive posts after a student trainee and an official at the centre lodged a complaint with the National Council for Peace and Order that they were instructed to falsify welfare receipts in the names of 2,000 villagers worth 6.9 million baht.
Ms Napa also said no progress in a similar investigation being conducted at a Chiang Mai centre has been reported to her so far. Investigations are also being carried out in Bung Kan, Trat, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, Sing Buri and Satun provinces.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday the transfer of the ministry’s permanent secretary is to pave the way for a transparent investigation.
“The prime minister will not put up with any civil servants found to be involved in corruption,” Lt Gen Sansern said.
“Any official who commits, or is involved in, such violations will face strong punishment.”
Meanwhile, Duangruedi Somwongsa, the leader of a fabric craft-making group in Ban Khuean village in Khon Kaen’s Ban Phang district, said her group was approached by officials from the centre in October 2016 offering funding, with the group receiving 30,000 baht.
However, a different set of officials from the centre later visited them, claiming that they had received a total of 90,000 baht in funding for the poor, she said. As a result, the group lodged a complaint with the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission Area 4 in Khon Kaen in October, she said.