Anutin orders local civil service recruitment exam results cancelled

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered a major crackdown on a corruption network involved in recruitment examinations for local civil servants, while stressing that all examination results must be cancelled, even if some successful candidates have already been appointed.

He said that if the examination process had an unlawful basis, its results could not be certified.

The order followed an investigation and arrests by anti-corruption agencies targeting a network involved in corruption in local civil servant recruitment examinations.

The case caused losses worth more than THB4.5 billion and led to the transfer of senior officials at the Department of Local Administration to clear the way for a full investigation.

During a meeting with related agencies, including administrative authorities, police and anti-corruption bodies, the prime minister said the government would expedite legal action against those responsible at every level, including the seizure of assets obtained through corruption, and expand the investigation to all those involved, regardless of their rank or agency.

The prime minister emphasised that the integrity of the examination process was the most important issue.

Although results had already been announced and people appointed to the civil service, if it could be proven that the examination process involved corruption or breached the law, all of those results must be cancelled to maintain the standards and credibility of the Thai bureaucracy.

He also instructed the Ministry of Interior to urgently consider suspending or temporarily removing from duty officials who had been accused or were under investigation, so as not to affect the fact-finding process and to prevent interference with evidence.

The prime minister said corruption in civil service entrance examinations destroyed the country’s merit system because it opened the way for people who had not earned their place through ability and integrity to enter the bureaucracy, while those with genuine knowledge and ability lost opportunities.

He reaffirmed that the government would take decisive action and that no one would be protected if found to have been involved in the network.