Anti-graft crusader student offers chat records about scam
A whistle-blowing university student has produced her Line app chat history to back her complaint that her lecturer had ignored her report on alleged irregularities at a government agency and instead told her to apologise to officials there.
Panida Yotpanya, a 22-year-old student at the Mahasarakham University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, submitted her chat records to her institute on Wednesday.
The university is conducting a probe.
“The fact-finding committee just needs to interview one more lecturer,” Suntorn Dejchai, who heads the university’s student-affairs division, said after receiving items of evidence from Panida.
The student had reported to her lecturer alleged irregularities while she was a trainee at the Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute. But she was rebuked and accused of telling lies. The lecturer also wanted her to apologise to officials at the centre.
Panida, however, was defiant and supported by her parents she filed complaints with various authorities.
The Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has now found evidence of corruption at the centre as well as at various similar centres in the country.
As the probe has been expanding to cover provincial protection centres across the country, Panida has won widespread praise. She has been credited with exposing one of the country’s biggest corruption scandals.
The university will present a plaque of honour to Panida at a ceremony to mark the formation of Mahasarakham University on March 26.
“I hold no grudges against my lecturer. It’s just that I wanted to prove to my university that I am not telling lies,” Panida said.