Ex-centre staffer sues over dismissal
KHON KAEN: A former staff member of the provincial state welfare centre has filed a lawsuit against her dismissal in the Administrative Court, insisting she refused to be a party in falsifying receipts of state funds that were embezzled.
Natthakan Muenpol, 26, a former employee of the Khon Kaen Protection for the Destitute, an agency that helps the underprivileged and HIV patients under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, said the provincial court has accepted her petition against the centre, which she alleged had unfairly terminated her work contract.
According to her, the dismissal stemmed from her refusal to work in collusion with other officials in falsifying signatures of villagers entitled to welfare fund allocations.
“While I worked there between 2016 and 2017, hired as a contract employee, I was ordered by some permanent staff to forge signatures of villagers on the documents,” she said. She maintained she refused to follow the instructions of the centre’s director and other permanent staff which led to her contract being terminated.
In another development, an anonymous source sent a number of documents to the media in Khon Kaen. They also sent a CD containing images taken from a close-circuited television (CCTV) camera.
The CCTV footage shows the centre’s staff members carrying a pile of documents from the office to the car of the director Phuangpayom Jitkong. Ms Phuangpayom, who was transferred to an inactive post, is facing a possible dismissal after a disciplinary probe found her guilty of misconduct in the state welfare fund embezzlement case.
A student trainee, who lodged a complaint with the National Council for Peace and Order over the alleged embezzlement, said she and her friends were assigned to forge signatures of villagers entitled to fund allocations at Ms Phuangpayom’s house.