Suchart Kruaykittanon, Assistant Secretary-General of the NACC Region 8 office, confirmed the charge at a press conference held at the Krabi Provincial Administrative Organisation offices yesterday (Sept 25).
“The NACC in Phuket Province has indicted the former mayor of Kathu Subdistrict Municipality and his associates for corruption by disbursing money to a road construction contractor even though the work was not yet complete,” said an official report of the press conference.
NACC Region 8 identified seven corruption cases across seven provinces in southern Thailand, with total damages exceeding B7 million. Nakhon Sri Thammarat Province recorded the highest number of complaints, the report noted.
Mr Suchart and directors from the seven southern provinces of NACC Region 8 ‒ Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Chumphon and Ranong ‒ presented the findings.
The cases included:
- The mayor of Tambon Krungyan in Nakhon Sri Thammarat and five others were charged with embezzling 39 checks, totaling more than B3.4 million.
- In Chumphon, 10 executives from Chumphon Vocational College were indicted for improper disbursement of funds, causing a loss of over B3.3 million.
- In Krabi, officers at Krabi Hospital were accused of misusing over B1.2 million in overtime payments.
- In Nakhon Sri Thammarat, the former mayor of Tambon Tai Sampao was indicted for awarding a construction contract to a close associate. Another former mayor in the province was charged with withholding housing rental fees for eligible officials.
- In Phang Nga, the former chief of a mangrove forest station was indicted for using government vehicles for personal use and claiming fuel expenses.
As of Sept 19, NACC Region 8 was handling 734 cases, including 376 preliminary investigations and 308 fact-finding cases, noted Mr Suchart.
Most complaints related to justice and security, followed by issues involving public utilities, construction, natural resources and procurement.
The provinces with the most complaints were Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Surat Thani, Chumphon, Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Ranong, respectively.
Current Kathu Mayor Wannayut ‘Beng’ Suthikul took office after winning a Kathu mayoral election in January this year.
The position of Kathu Mayor “became vacant” after years-long incumbent Chai-anan Suthikul was summarily dismissed from office by previous Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew in late January last year.
Mr Chai-anan’s dismissal from office followed an investigation into allowing a private operator to pump water from a lagoon at the Tin Mine Museum in Kathu.