Gambling site link to academic scandal uncovered in Bangkok
Evidence, consisting of secret chat logs and money transfer slips, has emerged linking a notorious gambling website operator to an academic scandal involving a police general.
Yesterday, April 23, at the Technology Crime Suppression Division 1, Police Major General Siriwat Deephor, head of the division, announced the arrest of 53 year old Kanittha. She was apprehended at her residence in the Bang Bon district of Bangkok under a warrant issued by the South Bangkok Criminal Court.
The case traces back to March, when the cyber police arrested the gambling website operator for repeated offences. Investigations revealed connections to an online gambling case from 2023.
An examination of seized computer equipment indicated that exam papers from a university had been illicitly removed. Further probing identified Kanittha, an independent scholar with a doctorate, as the person responsible. She was not affiliated with the university.
Maj. Gen. Siriwat explained that Kanittha was close to the exam officials. She exploited an opportunity to remove the exam papers while the officials were distracted.
The papers were intended for a person planning to take the exam last, suggesting a deliberate wait for the stolen exam. When university officials discovered the exam’s disappearance, they confronted Kanittha, who subsequently returned the papers.
The university cooperated fully in the investigation. Additionally, evidence of five bank transfers from the gambling operator’s mule account to Kanittha, totalling 300,000 to 400,000 baht (US$8,950 to 11,935), was found.
The computer investigation also uncovered chat logs from two years ago, detailing coordination for the exam theft. The operation involved five people, comprising three men and two women.
Evidence led to the South Bangkok Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Kanittha. She is currently being interrogated as a suspect.
An ex-police officer, who was following a former police chief and owned the computer, has also provided information. However, the person believed to have taken the exam has not yet been questioned.
During her initial interrogation, Kanittha denied the allegations but provided useful information for the case. Investigators did not oppose her bail, considering it a non-severe case.
Police are now focused on expanding the investigation to issue warrants for other involved parties. The operation’s intricacies involved Kanittha supplying law faculty exam papers from a prestigious university to a well-known police general, reported KhaoSod.
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