Bad monk buster vows to probe Pathum Thani abbot over alleged money laundering
Police vow to probe Pathum Thani abbot accused of laundering 12.2m baht through a woman in Germany, following complaint to CSD.
A senior police officer, famed for cracking down on corruption and sex scandals involving senior monks, revealed on Monday that he would begin investigating an abbot in Pathum Thani for allegedly having a woman in Germany launder 12.2 million baht of embezzled funds.
Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said the case of the abbot of a well-known temple in Pathum Thani, accused of embezzling temple funds, had caught his attention. He noted that complaints had already been filed against the monk with the Crime Suppression Division (CSD).
“I’m checking the case and the preliminary information is interesting,” Jaroonkiat said. He added that police would examine the temple’s financial transactions and take action against anyone involved in the alleged money laundering.
The case was initially brought to light by well-known lawyer Ananchai Chaidej, president of the Dharma Army Foundation.
Allegations from Germany
Ananchai posted on Facebook that the foundation had received a complaint from a Thai woman living in Germany, who claimed she had been deceived by the abbot into laundering money for him.
According to her account, the abbot asked her to transfer money — which he claimed was from his personal account — into his entity account in Germany. She later realised she had been deceived after being pressured to move the money again, this time from the entity account into the monk’s personal savings account in Germany. Upon checking, she discovered that the funds originated from the temple’s account, not from the abbot’s private account as claimed.
The woman then filed a complaint with the CSD and informed Ananchai’s foundation.
Suspicious transactions
Ananchai said the temple’s account had transferred money to the woman’s Krungthai Bank account in Thailand on four occasions: 6 million baht, 2.7 million baht, 2 million baht, and 1.5 million baht — totalling 12.2 million baht.
He added that the woman carried out 27 transactions from Thailand to Germany, as well as two further transfers within Germany, before realising she had been deceived.
Jaroonkiat’s reputation
Jaroonkiat has earned fame as a “bad monk buster.” In recent cases, his investigations have led to the defrocking and prosecution of several senior monks and abbots accused of embezzling temple funds to finance women with whom they had sexual relationships.
