DSI says Phra Dhammachayo set to surrender
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Department of Special Investigation officials Friday discussed with Pathum Thani’s chief monk and the abbot of Wat Khian Khet the reported wish of Dhammakaya Temple abbot Phra Dhammachayo to surrender to police.
Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, the DSI chief, told reporters the agency was ready to arrest the controversial monk.
He said the monk’s request for his immediate bail release was off the table as the DSI no longer had the authority to grant that because the case had been passed on to public prosecutors and that decision would rest with a court.
Paisit said a public prosecutor was slated to decide whether to indict suspects including Phra Dhammachayo on Wednesday.
Phra Dhammachayo faces an arrest warrant for alleged money laundering and accepting ill-gotten gains in connection with the multibillion-baht embezzlement at the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative that was committed by its former chairman Supachai Srisupa-aksorn. Supachai was jailed for 16 years this year.
