Fake document got Abhisit his military job, Defence Ministry says

The Defence Ministry has found that a falsified military document was used when opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva applied to serve as a lecturer at the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy.

In its letter to the Office of the Auditor-General, the ministry said discrepancies were found between the Sor Dor 9 conscription document used in Abhisit's application for the military job and the records at the Conscription Registrar's Office.

The ministry was responding to the agency's earlier request as part of its investigation into the matter, according to a report on the Independent News Network website.

The ministry said that Abhisit's document stated he was exempted from military service and was enlisted as a reserve officer on April 8, 1988, but that in the records at the Conscription Registrar's Office, the date of enlistment was stated as July 4, 1986.

The ministry said Abhisit should not have been eligible for exemption from military service because he was not studying at the time.

Abhisit's Sor Dor 9 document was a replacement for the original that had been reported as lost. He became a lecturer at the military academy after graduating from Oxford University.

With discrepancies in the document, it should not have been used in applying for the job at the military academy, the Defence Ministry concluded. It said in its letter that the Judge Advocate General's Department has been instructed to gather more evidence regarding the matter.

The ministry would determine later whether it is entitled to seek a return of the benefits obtained by Abhisit during his service at the military academy. It also would consider whether to take legal action against anyone who was involved in the alleged falsification of the document and use of it.

Defence Minister ACM Sukampol Suwannathat has set up a fact-finding team on the matter. The Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy later sent documents relating to Abhisit's application for the job to the probe team but that no original Sor Dor 9 document was found.