An Interior Ministry committee on Friday cancelled a recruitment list containing 5,924 candidates after a review uncovered suspicious patterns in their examination results.
Interior Ministry permanent secretary Unsit Sampuntharat said the central committee overseeing local government recruitment examinations would conduct further checks before publishing a revised list of successful candidates.
The move marks the latest development in an alleged corruption scandal surrounding recruitment examinations organised last year by the ministry’s Department of Local Administration.
Reports indicate that hundreds of candidates across the country may have paid bribes of between 350,000 and 800,000 baht in exchange for favourable examination scores.
“We reviewed the scores of over 279,000 candidates who sat the exam, out of around 400,000 applicants in total,” Mr Unsit said. “Among those 279,000 candidates, irregularities were identified in the scores of 5,924 individuals who had already been appointed.”
Appointments granted through the cancelled recruitment list will be withdrawn. Candidates found to have passed the examination legitimately will be included on the revised list and called for appointment.
The ministry previously said that 3,621 local government officials, among nearly 15,000 people appointed following the examinations, were likely to have their positions permanently revoked after evidence allegedly linked them to the cheating scheme.
Mr Unsit said the new list of successful candidates was expected to be released by early next week, adding that applicants would not be required to sit another examination.
Officials identified several forms of suspected score manipulation, including substantial unexplained increases, further adjustments to candidates who had already received high marks, and cases in which scores differed by only one point but required closer examination of answer sheets and supporting documents.
The ministry is also considering appointing an independent body, such as Thammasat University or the Office of the Civil Service Commission, to review more than 800,000 answer sheets submitted by over 400,000 candidates.
Meanwhile, a police source said the Crime Suppression Division planned to bring additional charges against 11 people allegedly caught altering examination results at a house in Nonthaburi last month.
The development follows the arrests this week of three principal suspects believed to have been involved in the recruitment examination fraud.
