Thailand revokes 3,868 local government appointments over exam score tampering

Thailand's Department of Local Administration (DLA) has revoked the appointments of 3,868 local government officers whose competitive examination scores were found to have been altered, with the revocations taking effect simultaneously across the country on Monday, 31 August 2026.

Nirat Pongsitthaworn, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Interior and acting Director-General of the DLA, announced the figure at a briefing in Songkhla, describing the account-management phase of the scandal as concluded.

According to Nirat, provincial personnel committees in all 76 provinces have now met and reported. About six provinces were still to convene as of the deadline, but none of them had names requiring revocation.

Revocations across the country

The Ministry of Interior had set 31 August 2026 as the deadline for local administrative organisations to strike the affected names from their rolls. Nirat said the central local personnel committee wanted a single nationwide effective date.

The central committee responsible for competitive examinations wrote to each provincial committee identifying only the individuals in that province. Nirat said the department chose direct written notification over publishing a list running to tens of thousands of names online.

Why 3,868 and not 5,925

The larger figure of 5,925 represents everyone whose scores were found to have been altered in the master account, Nirat explained. Detailed comparison work by his team established that 3,868 of them had already been appointed.

The remaining 2,057 were still awaiting placement. In their cases no revocation order was required; they will simply not be called up for appointment. Nirat said this fully addressed the task the department had been set.

Among the 3,868 revoked, 146 had already resigned before the orders took effect. Nirat said resignation does not extinguish liability, and those found to have been involved in wrongdoing will still face prosecution.

Score inspections and absence of litigation

The DLA opened its central office and its provincial offices in all 76 provinces to candidates wishing to inspect their own results. Nirat said 1,489 people had done so, and that none had lodged an objection or an appeal.

According to Nirat, the department showed each of them both the genuine score and the altered figure. He said the documentary evidence made the position clear and was accepted by those who came forward.

Nirat further stated that no revoked candidate had filed a lawsuit against any local authority executive over the loss of their post.

Replacement appointments in October

Nirat said the department had prioritised managing the examination accounts first in order to assist candidates who had passed legitimately but lost their opportunity while awaiting placement.

With the revocations complete, the DLA plans to call candidates from the correct reserve list, drawn in score order from a pool of successful candidates numbering in the tens of thousands, to fill the vacancies during October 2026.

For candidates whose corrected scores turned out to be higher than recorded but who have already been appointed, Nirat said the department would maintain its 7 August resolution. They are to remain in their current postings and may apply for transfer after six months of service under the normal rules.

Criminal proceedings referred out

Nirat said the DLA had compiled its material and handed it to the agencies with direct jurisdiction, including the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the police, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission.

He said progress had been reported at every stage to Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior.

Acknowledging that the department could not resolve every aspect of the case simultaneously, Nirat offered an apology. He noted that the examination involved close to 300,000 candidates, while questions had been raised over the conduct of more than 1,000 people.

In his assessment, a single working group could not complete all strands of the work at once, making it necessary to deal with the larger group first.

Arrests in the wider investigation

Separately, the Central Investigation Bureau's Anti-Corruption Division arrested two suspects on 27 August 2026 in connection with alleged payments for local government posts.

Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, Deputy Commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, identified them as Prawit Jarurutchakul, aged 62, a former head of a tambon administrative organisation in Si Sa Ket and a former Pheu Thai Party parliamentary candidate, and Nawaporn Prueprang, a tambon administrative organisation officer.

Police allege the pair solicited 650,000 Thai baht per candidate on claims they could secure appointments. The warrant for Prawit was issued by the Region 3 Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases on 25 August 2026.

Charoonkiat said more than 100 people are believed to have paid, of whom 57 obtained posts and about 40 did not and were not refunded. He said the file would be forwarded to the NACC within 30 days.

Prawit gave a partial denial while providing information police described as useful to the wider inquiry, according to Charoonkiat. Nawaporn denied the allegations at the point of arrest.