DSI urged to investigate Thai Khemkhaeng scheme

DSI director-general Tarit Pengdith said yesterday that his agency had received Suranand’s request for them to investigate the project’s second stage, especially in relation to the Bt5 billion allocated to the Education Ministry’s Vocational Education Commission. The Prime Minister’s Office had allegedly received complaints that spending of this fund “lacked transparency”, the DSI chief explained.

Tarit said initial investigation had found signs of possible criminal violation, but the DSI would have to refer this case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) because it was beyond his agency’s authority. 

A Justice Ministry fact-finding committee, led by permanent secretary Kittipong Kitayarak, found some grounds to believe that there were irregularities involving purchase plans for vocational colleges under the project, a ministry source said yesterday.

It was found that teaching aids and tools had been bought for the colleges regardless of whether they needed them or not, the source said. In addition, many of the purchased items were found to be inferior to the specifications stated in the terms of reference. For instance, some items were produced in Thailand and other Asian countries, instead of the United States, and that some were made of brass instead of gold as stated in the ToR, the source said. 

 Meanwhile, the Rural Doctors Society is planning to hold a gathering of doctors, nurses and patients outside the Public Heath Ministry on Monday to underline the worsening corruption problem in relation to the ministry.

Dr Kriangsak Watcharanukulkiat, the society’s president, said yesterday that the participants would light candles during the gathering as a symbolic gesture to “drive away the darkness that is dominating the ministry”. He said his group would also hold a press conference to expose the “movement of hungry tigers” making personal gains from the ministry’s purchase projects for hospitals across the country, particularly those whose medical equipment was damaged by last year’s floods.

The rural doctors would also submit evidence that they have gathered to the NACC, the Office of the Auditor-General and the Ombudsman’s Office. “We will ask the agencies to speed up their investigation so those who take advantage of state budgets for poor people and those affected by the floods will be punished,” Kriangsak said.

A medical source in Khon Kaen said yesterday that unnamed “powerful figures in the Public Health Ministry” have instructed local officials to find out if Kriangsak, who is director of Chumpae Hospital in the Northeast, has done anything that could be regarded as a violation of the code of discipline. If he is found to have failed in strictly following the code, he could be transferred to an inactive post, the source said. 

The Rural Doctors Society has also been asked to stop exposing irregularities in the ministry, according to the source.