4 new suspects in supplies case

Four more education officials have been found to be involved in irregularities surrounding the procurement of educational supplies worth 279 million baht in 600 schools in the Northeast, according to the Education Ministry’s internal probe.

Athapol Truektrong, the Education Ministry’s inspector-general who is heading the ministry’s probe into the alleged corruption, said two of them are high-ranking officials and the other two are mid-level officers. All of them will soon be transferred out of their original offices for further investigation.

“If found guilty, they will face legal and disciplinary action,” Mr Athapol said.

Recently, Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin ordered the transfer of the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) deputy permanent secretary Narong Paewpolsong, who was also involved in the same scandal, to perform duties at a Regional Education Office 15 in Chiang Mai.

During its recent field inspection in the Northeast, the Education Ministry found several Educational Service Area Offices in the region had requested a budget to buy equipment for occupational training, even though many schools insisted they did not want or need it.

According to Lt Gen Kosol Prathumchart, an adviser to Mr Teerakiat, who led the inspection, there were efforts by some Educational Service Area Offices to provide tractors to some schools even though the schools do not have agricultural plots on which to train students.

In some provinces, efforts were made to provide bookshelves to schools although these are not usually provided for occupational training, he added.

Therefore, Mr Teerakiat ordered Obec to put this project on hold and set up a special committee to look into the matter. However, Mr Narong, a day later, signed a document to proceed with the procurement of equipment for the training, ignoring Mr Teerakiat’s order.

Mr Teerakiat said the transfer of the senior official was intended to facilitate the ongoing investigation.