The parliamentary Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) panel pressed for investigation into fraud in local civil service exams. Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) revealed it outsourced exam administration and scoring to a private company. The Director of SWU’s Testing Office admitted to stamping and certifying the list of successful candidates received from the local administration department without verifying it first.
At 3:00 p.m. on 9 July 2026, Mr. Asapol Santraiphop, as chairman, of the House of Representatives’ Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) parliamentary panel, together with Mr. Thanatharn Pramoolpong, the panel’s spokesperson, held a press conference at the parliament building. They reported that the panel reviewed cases involving government officials implicated in fraudulent local civil service exams. The panel invited the President of Srinakharinwirot University (SWU), the Director of SWU’s Educational and Psychological Testing Office, and a representative from the Anti-Corruption Organization (Thailand) to a meeting to clarify the exam management process and verification system. The session lasted over three hours, with the key points summarized as follows.
1. SWU and its Testing Office collected all data and evidence, including answer sheets from over 400,000 candidates and flash drives stored securely in Samut Prakan Province. These were handed over to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for official investigation. The Testing Office Director assured the panel that the paper answer sheets and digital data on the flash drives are important evidence now under the custody of the NACC, with no alterations made to any data.
2. Both the SWU President and the Testing Office Director confirmed that for the local civil service exams, the President authorized the Testing Office Director to manage the entire outsourcing project contracted by the Department of Local Administration (DLA), including e-bidding and contract signing. The President was not involved in operational matters as authority was fully delegated.
. 3. The Testing Office outsourced a 30 million baht contract to a private company to print answer sheets, score exams, and provide exam scoring equipment for 100 testing centers nationwide. The Testing Office Director explained that this subcontracting was properly communicated and acknowledged by the contracting party, the DLA.
4. Regarding allegations of external interference in exam result evaluations, the Testing Office Director stated that the interference came from the contracting party, the DLA. When asked which university or Testing Office personnel the DLA contacted, the Director declined to provide details to the panel, citing that full testimony was already given to the NACC.
5. The head of SWU’s internal investigation committee stated that their internal fact-finding on this matter is expected to conclude within the same day or, at the latest, by the following morning.
The parliamentary panel chairman added that the panel noted the backup data storage was not specified in the contract’s terms of reference (TOR). The chairman of the parliamentary committee on decentralization and local administration, who attended the meeting, questioned inconsistencies between SWU’s account and prior explanations from the DLA to that committee last week. Additional facts emerged about the announcement of successful candidates, revealing two sets of flash drives: one held by the NACC and another by the DLA. The DLA returned the latter flash drive to SWU’s Testing Office for the university to stamp and certify the list of passing candidates. The Testing Office Director admitted that they did not verify the accuracy of the certified list. Although this step was not included in the TOR, the Director stamped the certification and returned the flash drive data to the DLA for public announcement.
“Based on all these facts, the panel resolved to summon the Director-General of the DLA, the chairman of the central committee overseeing local civil service exams, and the head of the Anti-Corruption Organization (Thailand) to provide further information next week. The panel also requested the SWU President to submit 30 additional documents, including the contract’s terms of reference, budget approval and disbursement documents, and other materials related to all parties responsible for the project’s implementation.”
