District official accused of workplace affair and misconduct

The permanent secretary of the Art Samart District Office in the Isaan province of Roiet has been accused of having a scandalous affair within the workplace and granted special leave days to his alleged lover.

On Thursday, July 20, the Facebook page, Watchdog (ปฏิบัติการหมาเฝ้าบ้าน), shared a picture of a Thai woman with text on the top of the picture saying…

“Phi Noi (an illegal Thai worker in South Korea) and a mistress of Art Samart District official was arrested in South Korea. She managed to receive a monthly salary from the district office even while working abroad in South Korea for three months before her arrest.”

The page revealed that the woman worked as an assistant fiscal official at the district office, but later became an illegal worker in South Korea in January of this year. However, she still received her salary from the district office at 14,540 baht per month.

According to the page, the mentioned woman gained special approval from her lover to take continuous leave for 45 days. She was arrested and deported by South Korean authorities at the end of March. She then went back to work in the district office as if nothing had happened.

The page also explained how the woman took the day off in detail reporting that the woman took vacation leave from January 3 to 16. While she was aboard, she submitted personal leave from January 17 to March 21.

According to the page’s findings, the woman was hired in 2020, and her employment contract was set to expire at the end of September this year. Her hiring was carried out by none other than the permanent secretary of the office, who served as the acting chief executive of the district in that year.

The story drew attention from the Thai netizens, many demanded the mentioned people to clarify the issue to the public.

ThaiRath reported that the aforementioned female official took leave today when the media scheduled to interview the permanent secretary.

The permanent secretary insisted that leave days were granted to the woman according to the organisation’s welfare. He further stated that there was no clear evidence to support the claims of her illegal employment in South Korea.

The permanent secretary also insisted on his innocence in the workplace affair accusation. He stated that he has been working at the district office for 26 years and would retire in the next two months. he had never done anything wrong or illegal.

He believed that some of the officers in the organisation, who were under investigation for their wrongdoing, made the story up in an attempt to divert public attention away from their issues. He could not reveal the details of the issue now but promised to share the matter with the media as soon as everything was clarified.