Seventeen people have been taken into police custody for alleged involvement in entrance examination cheating for enrolment in the police academy for non-commissioned officers.
Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittipraphat, the national police chief, told the media at a press conference today (Wednesday) that two of the 17 suspects are potential election candidates for two political parties.
He insisted that the police did not persecute the two politicians, adding that police have adequate evidence to substantiate the charges against them.
The police chief alleged that the gang sold entrance exam questions, complete with the answers, to applicants vying for seats in the academy.
All 17 suspects have been charged with criminal association and with having access to official documents in a way that may cause damage to other people. They were all granted bail.
Adisak Sombatkham, a potential election candidate for the Move Forward Party, said that he had withdrawn from contesting the election to focus on defending himself against the charges.
He said he will, however, help to campaign for the party.
A total of 1,160 applicants applied for the exam and 967 passed the written test and are due to undergo oral tests fromMay 8th to 12th. The remainder were caught cheating.
Pol Maj-Gen Yanpong Soma, deputy commissioner of Police Education Bureau, said that, in the past five years, about 500 applicants had been caught cheating in the entrance exam and all of them have been blacklisted for life.
To prevent future cheating, he said that the venues for written examinations will be reduced to make effective supervision easier.
