Five officials probed over exam cheating

PUBLISHED : 3 Jul 2026 at 04:44

Five officials from the Department of Local Administration (DLA) have been put under disciplinary investigation in connection with the recent local government recruitment exam fraud, Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Thursday.

Welcoming the completion of the investigation a week after it was ordered, Mr Anutin said the investigation committee, led by the ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Santitorn Yimlamai, had confirmed attempts to falsify and cheat in the recruitment examination.

"I will reveal details as much as possible without exploiting the case or interfering with evidence collected from the investigation," Mr Anutin said.

According to Mr Santitorn, the committee summoned 15 individuals for questioning, with some submitting clarification documents.

It is also gathering as many records as possible from related sectors for the investigation and has sought input from technological experts.

The initial probe confirmed that contractors did not transfer checked answer sheet files to the DLA as soon as they obtained them from 10 examination locations.

Mr Santitorn added that 48 of the 79 sample sheets stored on thumb drives collected from the DLA showed mismatched scores between the answer sheets and the processed score listings, with more than half having scores in both sections of the test altered to significantly higher results.

The findings showed the DLA had failed to conduct a reverse check against the listings for candidates who passed the test's third section, a positional exam hosted by respective agencies, after receiving the results of the other two sections.

Mr Santitorn said that some information was altered before it was submitted to an official test announcement platform.

The investigator revealed that DLA officers, contractors and private companies were involved in the test falsification network, with at least five DLA officers expected to be charged with disciplinary violations, Mr Santitorn added.

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Decentralisation, Local Administration and Special Form of Administration invited relevant agencies to a meeting to discuss the government recruitment exam fraud on Thursday, with Srinakharinwirot University (SWU), which administered the exams, absent from the meeting.