Police have uncovered a two year operation to rig a civil service recruitment exam, with investigators preparing to file criminal conspiracy charges against those involved.
Deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division 2, Police Colonel Netiwit Thanasitnitikul, said the Central Investigation Bureau commissioner has set out a framework to summon everyone connected to the exam process for questioning. This includes the committee that designed the exam from Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) and the Department of Local Administration, along with executives from a printing house in Samut Prakan.
Ten government officials caught on video during the arrest will also be questioned, along with victims of the scheme, given the high level of public interest in the case.
A video clip referring to two people identified only as “Kit” and “Som” claims knowledge of the exam trading network and connections to senior figures. Police are still verifying the authenticity of the clip.
How the scheme worked
The case began after complaints from candidates who sat the exam honestly, after some who paid to pass were left out of the final list. More than 400,000 people applied for six thousand local government positions.
Investigators found that nine thousand candidates paid to have their answers altered, with individual payments ranging from 300,000 to 900,000 baht (roughly 8,300 to 25,000 US dollars). Total damages are estimated at more than four billion baht (around 111 million US dollars).
Officers traced the operation to a house in Nonthaburi registered as a private company, where officials gathered to correct exam papers. Real answer sheets were copied and checked against the answer key, with correct answers marked in red pen before being altered in a computer system and scanned back into the official record.
Mastermind named
A man named Pichit has been identified as the main organiser. He reportedly paid one of the arrested officials, referred to as “Mr S”, to manage the handling of exam papers from testing venues to the company before they were distributed nationwide.
A second key suspect remains at large. This person is accused of copying paying candidates’ scores onto a flash drive and delivering the data to the Nonthaburi company.
Original exam papers are kept in a Department of Local Administration warehouse for two years before being destroyed, a procedure officials acknowledge leaves no way to check records from earlier years.
Senior police sources believe the network has operated for more than two years, based on financial transactions linked to one suspect dating back to 2024.
Police plan to charge those involved with criminal association and conspiracy, along with separate charges for leaking Ministry of Interior data after the ministry filed a complaint. Other offences will be handled by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, unless it delegates authority to the Central Investigation Bureau.
University responds
SWU president Cholawit Jiarajitt has filed a police complaint against individuals and Facebook pages he says spread false information and edited video clips accusing him of soliciting benefits.
“If anyone who made these accusations has real information, they should come out and reveal themselves publicly, not hide like this,” Cholawit said.
The university has set up a fact finding committee with a seven day deadline from June 23 to complete its review. It said it has already shared requested documents with the National Anti-Corruption Commission and pledged full cooperation, adding that anyone found to have broken the law or been involved in fraud will face strict action, reported Matichon.
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