Pathum thani: Attorney Ananchai has brought forward financial irregularities concerning monks at a renowned temple in Pathum Thani after a laywoman's complaint prompted an investigation into the temple's assets.
According to Thai News Agency, the report submitted to the Provincial Buddhist Office unveiled discrepancies in the temple's financial records, involving 12.2 million baht.
Mr. Ananchai Chaidech, serving as the President of the Army Lawyer Foundation, alongside his legal team, presented documented evidence of financial transactions to Pol. Maj. Gen. Charoonkiat Pankaew, Deputy Commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB). Attorney Ananchai detailed a complaint filed concerning a German woman who accused a monk at the temple of embezzling 12.2 million baht. The transactions included four separate deposits to the woman's Krungthai Bank account, amounting to 6 million baht, 2.7 million baht, 2 million baht, and 1.5 million baht respectively. The transactions were allegedly donations from the temple, yet the financial summaries from October 2017 to June 2018 reportedly omitted the 12.2 million baht.
Following these transfers, which were made to an association in Germany 27 times, the account was frozen due to suspicious activity. This led to money laundering charges against both the laywoman and the monk. However, the laywoman successfully argued that the funds were intended for charitable activities, resulting in the dismissal of the case by the German court.
Complications arose when a monk accused the laywoman of incomplete fund transfers. The laywoman clarified that the 28th and 29th transactions were refunded to the monk's personal account due to the account freeze. Furthermore, a 170,000 baht transfer to the laywoman was deemed a consulting fee, which she initially believed to be her salary. Upon realizing the funds were from the temple's account, the charges were dismissed by the prosecutor.
Subsequently, the laywoman filed a misappropriation lawsuit against the monk, asserting that the monk had solicited international donations through sermons. However, the German court dismissed the charges, citing jurisdictional limitations as the donations occurred in the Netherlands.
Today, the laywoman provided evidence to Police Major General Charoonkiat, who will investigate the alleged misuse of temple funds. The inquiry aims to verify whether the funds were appropriately deposited and utilized according to temple regulations. She also pledged to assist with information regarding Sangha law.
Dr. Prayut Prasertsena, also known as Mahamee, Vice President of the Dharma Army Foundation, elaborated on the temple's expenditure practices, emphasizing the distinction between personal accounts and donation-derived accounts, which must be used strictly for their intended purposes as per the Sangha Act.