The investigation would kick off at the end of October and was set for completion within six months, the official said.

The PACC commissioner would then deliver the verdicts, he added.

Prayong said the PACC had received more than 850 complaints related to state officials who had worked in rice warehouses during the scandalous rice-pledging scheme under the Yingluckadministration.

He said if the PACC followed regular procedures, the process could take up to two years to complete and would unnecessarily add up the agency’s work for a long period of time.

Similar wrongdoing in similar times would be put in the same category to hasten investigations, the secretary general said.

The PACC would create guidelines for its officials to use so they adhered to the same standard of investigation, he said.

Prayong said the agency had almost 6,000 other graft cases as well. The PACC would work on them concurrently with cases about the rice-pledging scheme.