Dhammachayo saga carries into the new year

While senior officials including Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha have said the case will be prosecuted according to the law, authorities have not been able to search the vast temple and apprehend the monk. 
Meanwhile, charges continue to pile up against the temple in Pathum Thani’s Klong Luang district and its supporters involved in the case.
As of December, Dhammakaya Temple – whose acting abbot Phra Witesphawanajahn also faces 13 charges including for allegedly having sheltered Dhammachayo – is involved in almost 200 cases, most of which are about illegal construction and encroaching on public space. 
Some of the cases regarding allegedly illegal structures led to Tuesday’s police operation, which saw the removal of metal fences from public spaces around the temple. Officials, however, did not proceed with operations beyond the removal of the obstacles.
In addition, authorities announced this week that the Dhammakaya Media Channel satellite TV broadcasting licence would be revoked by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission after a 30-day suspension ends on January 7.
Citing ill health, Dhammachayo has failed to answer three summonses by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) after the deadlines of April 8, April 25 and May 16 elapsed. 
The DSI wants the monk to hear charges of conspiracy to launder money, money laundering and receiving stolen assets linked to the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC) embezzlement case. 
In its second application to the court on May 17, the DSI secured an arrest warrant for Dhammachayo. 
However, an operation on June 16 to search the temple for the monk failed following a stand-off with temple supporters who gathered at the compound ostensibly for mass prayer but in reality blocking officers’ access. 
At the same time, there were multiple attempts to induce the former abbot to surrender, with temple personnel saying he would do so if he was given a guarantee of release on bail, but a deal failed to materialise.
After prosecutors delayed a decision four times, stating that they needed more information from the DSI, in late November they decided to indict Dhammachayo and four others in relation to the KCUC money-laundering charges. Prosecutors also publicly urged the DSI to arrest the monk before the statute of limitations for the crime, which allegedly was committed in 2009, expired in 2024. 
Dhammachayo also faces two police arrest warrants in relation to Suan Pa Himawan’s alleged encroachment on forestland in Loei’s Phu Rua district and World Peace Valley Khao Yai monastic retreat’s alleged encroachment on state-owned land in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sikhiu district. Both organisations are linked to the former abbot.
Those arrest warrants were issued on August 16 and November 18 respectively. 
As Dhammachayo remains at large, and the temple and its supporters face criminal cases, the controversy seems certain to remain a hot topic in 2017 as the public watches to see how authorities will resolve the case.