Tarit fired for being ‘unusually rich’, vows to fight on
The PM’s secretary general has confirmed that he fired former Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdit after he was found by the National Anti-Corruption Commission to be unusually rich.
PM's Secretary General Vilas Arunsri said in a statement that Tarit was fired on April 3 after the PM’s Secretariat was informed of the NACC’s finding.
Tarit told The Nation on Monday that he would fight against his dismissal in line with the justice process.
He said he did not want to give an interview about his dismissal.
Vilas explained in the statement that the firing of Tarit came after the PM’s Secretariat had discussed the case with the NACC, the Office of the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Council of State.
Vilas said the three agencies affirmed with the PM’s Secretariat that it was the authority of the secretariat to dismiss Tarit from government service.
The statement said Tarit had been found to have acquired unusual wealth of Bt346.65 million when he was DSI director general, so the PM’s Secretariat was required by Article 80 (4) of the 1999 Corruption Prevention and Suppression Act to dismiss him from government service.
Tarit was sent to an inactive post at the PM’s Office by the National Council for Peace and Order on May 24 0214.
On June 27, 2014, he became an adviser attached to the PM’s Secretariat, so the secretariat was the agency with the authority to remove him from government service, Vilas said.