The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) is to send an investigation team to Lop Buri to question more than 100 suspected accomplices in the drug and medical supply corruption case at the Veterans General Hospital (VGH).
CIB Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew said yesterday that after the War Veterans Organisation of Thailand (WVO), which runs the hospital, lodged a complaint with the CIB's Anti-Corruption Division against 20 government workers on Monday, its investigation team met WVO director-general Gen Detnitit Luangngamkum, VGH director Dr Jittima Preecha, Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission Secretary-General Bhumivisan Kasemsook, and National Anti-Corruption Commission officials.
They discussed prosecution and investigation guidelines, which divided the suspects into three groups -- a patient group, a command level group, and a government officials group.
Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat said he would set up a team of investigators to check the medical records of the patients, including names and treatment histories, to determine whether they were truly patients and what kind of medicine they were prescribed.
"We will go to Lop Buri to question more than 100 people involved in the case. We expect to spend about two days on the investigation," he said.
The case is a large-scale crime, he said, adding that it involved military officers, doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and patients. He said some of the perpetrators in this case have also committed similar offences at other state hospitals, and police were in the process of expanding the investigation.
Tanadej Pengsuk, a People's Party MP for Bangkok who exposed the VGH corruption case, said he wants a probe into a colonel suspected to be involved in the case expedited.
