Obec chief faces probe over exam cheating

Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang said yesterday that he had already approved a disciplinary probe of Chinnapat and seven other officials after a fact-finding committee found evidence that the officials failed to follow proper procedures to protect the confidentiality of state information.
In January’s recruitment exam, hundreds of test takers had unusually high scores, raising suspicions that exam questions and answers had been leaked.
Chinnapat is already facing another inquiry for alleged dereliction of duty.
The seven other officials include Anan Ra-ngabtook, an inspector-general, and Krai Kestan, director of Obec’s Monitoring and Evaluation Bureau, said Panita Kambhu na Ayutthaya, permanent secretary and head of the fact-finding committee.
“For example, none of the three officials entrusted with the keys to safe deposit boxes, which stored notebooks containing exam questions and answers, at a bank had kept the keys with themselves,” she said.
Krai was also allowed to contact the bank to open the safe deposit boxes alone and put the account under his name.
“Normally, safe deposit boxes must be in Obec’s name,” she said.