Monk seeks Dhammachayo case reviews

Phra Buddha Isra denies misconduct

The controversial abbot of Wat Dhammakaya is facing new pressure after activist monk Phra Buddha Isra asked the attorney-general to re-open old criminal cases against him.

Phra Buddha Isra yesterday petitioned the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) to re-open the cases in which Phra Dhammachayo was indicted more than a decade ago.

The indictments were later withdrawn and the matters did not proceed to trial.

The activist monk, who is himself facing claims of improper conduct after he joined anti-government protests last year, is the abbot of Wat Om Noi in Nakhon Pathom province.

He said the public should be told why the OAG originally decided to indict the abbot, as well as why it later reversed its decision and rescinded the allegations during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.

The move comes after Phra Dhammachayo re-entered the limelight after the National Reform Council’s (NRC) committee on religious affairs claimed he should have been defrocked years ago.

The NRC committee accused the abbot of violating the Buddhist monks’ code of conduct by putting assets — including 1,500 rai of land from temple followers — under his name and distorting Buddhist doctrines.

The committee also cited letters sent by the late supreme patriarch to the Supreme Sangha Council (SSC) in 1999, recommending that he be defrocked due to gross misconduct.

Phra Buddha Isra also asked the OAG to examine the financial support which Wat Phra Dhammakaya has been providing to a number of Buddhist missionaries overseas.

In response to complaints made by other monks regarding his own alleged misconduct, Phra Buddha Isra challenged his critics to explain when he was supposed to have violated the monks’ code of conduct.

Pornsak Srinarong, director-general of the OAG and Kosolawat Inthujanyong, deputy spokesman of the OAG, met Phra Buddha Isra on Tuesday to receive his petition.

Mr Pornsak said the earlier indictment cases directed against Phra Dhammachayo were more than a decade ago and that the OAG team members who were responsible for these matters have since retired.

The OAG will wait for Attorney-General Trakul Winitnaiyapak’s decision on how to proceed with the request, he said.

Even if the AOG agrees to the inquiry, tracking down the case documents could take some time as so much time has passed, said Mr Pornsak.

If the OAG proceeds, a new team will be formed to process the petition.

Phra Buddha Isra also submitted another petition yesterday to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

He asked the DSI to examine the money trail and assets of Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn, the acting Supreme Patriarch and abbot of Wat Pak Nam Phasi Charoen, as well as those of the other SSC members.

Phra Buddha Isra argued that Wat Pak Nam Phasi Charoen appears to have far more assets than a temple should.

The activist monk also wants the DSI to investigate Phra Dhammachayo’s 2011 promotion, which proceeded despite the SSC resolution recognising the late supreme patriarch’s recommendation to defrock Phra Dhammachayo.

A group of monks who call themselves the council to protect Phra Dhamma Vinaya — the Lord Buddha’s teachings and the monks’ code of conduct — yesterday called on the NRC committee on religious affairs to narrow the scope of its Buddhism reforms to the studies of Phra Dhamma Vinaya, and not Buddhism in its entirety in Thailand.

Paibul Nititawan, the panel’s chairman, said the committee will heed the group’s advice.