Cops target couple linked to temple fraud
>> NONTHABURI: The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday launched a raid on the house of a couple allegedly embroiled in the temple fund embezzlement scandal in Bang Kruai district.
CSD police conducted a search on a two-storey house in the Tharinphon Villa housing estate on Chalerm Prakiat Road in tambon Wat Chalo after a search warrant was approved by the Nonthaburi Provincial Court.
During the two-hour operation, authorities found financial documents, temple land lease contracts and other documents allegedly linked with the fund embezzlement.
CSD chief Maitree Chimcherd said the warrant was sought after an examination of a financial trail showed a total of five million baht was wired from a senior monk to the couple’s bank account during three transactions.
According to the land lease contract, the couple paid 30,000 baht as a monthly lease payment to the temple.
However, the probe found the plot was subleased to a restaurant for Chinese tourists in which its owner was required to pay the couple 300,000 baht each month.
Pol Maj Gen Maitree said the investigation must be widened to determine if these amounts of money were returned to the temple.
The couple who owned the residence were taken to the division for questioning.
Both denied the allegation, saying they were closely acquainted with the monk, who also served as a member of the Sangha Supreme Council (SSC). Police are still unearthing the details.
During the inquiry, two other witnesses also appeared at the division to give testimonies.
Besides the house, a search was also conducted on a Buddhist supplies outlet owned by the couple to compile additional evidence.
The raid came after Pol Lt Col Pongporn Phramsane, the director of the National Office of Buddhism, last month lodged a complaint against five senior monks attached to three temples in Bangkok, accusing them of syphoning more than 70 million baht from a Buddhism development fund for Phra Pariyati Dhamma schools for Pali and dhamma studies.
Three of them also serve as SSC members.
Legal action is being pursued against the monks as part of a wider probe into 10 temples allegedly involved in the embezzlement of more than 100 million baht from the fund.
Pol Maj Gen Maitree said Thitithat Niphonphitthaya, a military officer attached to the Armed Forces Security Centre, informed the agency he would meet investigators tomorrow to clarify how he acquired a raft of firearms and ammunition impounded from his house in Bangkok’s Saphan Sung district on Wednesday.
Lt Thitithat has been implicated in the temple fund scandal after authorities found a senior monk transferred 25 million baht to a bank account of Nutchara Sitthinok, his 32-year-old housekeeper.
During a search at his house, police found four rifles, 18 pistols, 1,005 bullets and three safes with gold ornaments, jewellery and financial transaction documents inside.
On Friday, the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters has also issued an order, instructing Lt Thitithat to report to the agency within 15 days or be dismissed.