Roughly two-thirds of 76 welfare centres for the underprivileged across the country have been involved in irregularities in terms of spending, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said Monday.

Lt Col Korntip Daroj, secretary-general of the PACC, said the agency last week detected irregularities in budget spending in another four centres in Chon Buri, Phuket, Pattani and Loei.

This brought the number of scandal-hit centres to 53 involving a total budget of 107 million baht, or 87% of the sum allocated to all 76 centres.

According to Lt Col Korntip, all 20 centres in the Northeast were found to have been connected with alleged malfeasance.

He said the PACC has so far resolved to consider cases involving nine of the centres in Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Bung Kan, Nong Khai, Surat Thani, Trat, Nan, Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani.

Another 23 provinces are still under further examination, the PACC secretary-general said.

Irregularities include partly or fully falsifying documents of money recipients, listing the names of recipients who are not eligible for financial assistance, and giving money to people on the list when the anti-graft agencies carry out their probes.

The recipients are being questioned and documented as part of the prosecution's case against those involved in the malfeasance, according to Lt Col Korntip.

The PACC is also looking into irregularities in self-help settlement schemes and hill-tribe development centres.

The case involving the Chiang Phin self-help settlement programme in Udon Thani, which receives about 7 million baht from the state budget, has been picked up by the PACC to be investigated.

The cases involving the Huay Huang self-help settlement scheme in Udon Thani, which was granted a budget of 5 million baht, and a similar scheme pertaining to the Ubolratana Dam area in Khon Kaen, which received a budget of 11.7 million baht, will be handed over the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), officials said.

The PACC, which falls under the Justice Ministry, focuses on corruption cases involving low-ranking state officials while the NACC, an independent body, zeroes in on politicians and high-ranking officials.

According to Lt Col Korntip, the malfeasance found in these programmes is similar to that detected at the welfare centres.

The PACC is also examining: a self-help settlement scheme in Satun that received 10.9 million baht from the state budget; a coordination centre for village assistance in Chiang Mai's San Kamphaeng district that was earmarked 23.7 million; and the Chiang Mai Hill Tribe Development Centre, which got 66.6 million baht.

Lt Col Korntip said about 90% of the recipients from these three units claimed they had not yet received any financial assistance.

Work is now under way to gather more information on the cases so they can be presented to the PACC for consideration, according to Lt Col Korntip.

The probe into the provincial centres for the protection of the destitute comes after Mahasarakham University student Panida Yotpanya and three friends who worked as interns at one of the centres in Khon Kaen lodged a complaint with the National Council for Peace and Order.

Ms Panida claimed the group were ordered by centre director Phuangphayom Chitkhom and other senior officials to fill in forms and sign receipts on behalf of 2,000 villagers worth a total of 6.9 million baht.