Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dismissed as “nonsense” today an audio clip, which went viral on social media, implicating the wife of interior permanent secretary Orasit Samphantharat of involvement in the Local Administration Department’s (LAD) recruitment examination fraud.
The audio clip first appeared on the webpage of ‘CSILA’ and was then widely shared on social media. It features the voice of a woman, claimed to be that of Orasit’s wife, talking about the exam scandal.
Responding to a reporter’s question about the audio clip, the prime minister said that there is no need for the interior permanent secretary to clarify the matter because the clip is “nonsense”. He asked the media to exercise caution and to separate fact from fiction.
Asked whether he will stick to factual evidence from the investigation and discard information from the social media, Anutin maintained that judgement must be based on evidence.
Regarding the recent order by the deputy director-general of the LAD, revoking a previous order to suspend the appointment of new employees who passed the recruitment exam, the prime minister said that, if it is subsequently discovered that the new employees passed the exam through fraudulent means, the LAD must take decisive action to deal with them.
Meanwhile, activist lawyer Pattharapong Supa-aksorn filed a complaint yesterday with the National Anti-Corruption Commission, accusing three unnamed executives of a local administrative organisation of involvement in the exam fraud.
He claimed that he has obtained information from a reliable source in Buri Ram province implying that the executives had contacted exam attendees, offering to help them pass the exam in exchange for huge sums of money.
He also claims to have audio clips of conversations between the executives and the exam attendees. As well as money transfer slips.
