The centre, for instance, allocated up to Bt23.7 million for a royal project about San Kamphaeng Village Village even though the population was just 3,321 people.

In addition, the project allegedly disbursed most of the cash without proper documentation.

“In most cases, the disbursement was made even without the copies of the recipients’ national identification cards,” Pol General Jarumporn Suramanee, a board member of the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), said yesterday.

He is currently in Chiang Mai to look into the operations of the development centre. The centre is under scrutiny after the PACC detected suspicious practices at nearly 50 protection centres for the destitute and several other highland people development centres.

Jarumporn said a preliminary examination of signatures on the project’s receipts also suggested that they might have been signed by just a few people. “It seems the signatories are the same persons as those filling the whole form,” he said.

Jarumporn said the kamnan of Tambon Mae Ta was also identified as an alleged recipient of the welfare money but he has denied receiving any money. According to the kamnan, the list of recipients used by the centre even included persons who lived outside Thailand.