In a project to give low-income earners a New Year’s gift of cash, the Ministry of Finance said that, of the 8.3 million people who registered for the money, some of them are dead, rich, or not even Thai.

Finance Secretary-General Somchai Sujjapongse said the payday will have to be postponed for now as the ministry has to check all 8.3 million names who registered for the one-time sum of money.

The rule is that people who earn less than THB30,000 per year can receive THB3,000, transferred their bank accounts, as a one-time gift from the government, while those with an annual salary of less than THB100,000 can receive THB1,500.

However, about 60,000 of the people registered are not qualified for the project. Over 10,000 people were found to earn more than THB100,000 per year and some of them possibly earn more than THB1 million a year.

About 46,000 people cheated and registered with multiple bank accounts. Some people used the same ID card number but registered under multiple names. Some are not even Thai, and some have been found dead.

Somchai said they will open the system for registration again in February since the name list will be useful for the government to develop a welfare project in the future.

The ministry estimates that a total of 10 million low-income earners will register, Work Point reported.

Related:

Happy New Year? Junta to shower 8 million low-income earners with public’s hard-earned cash

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