Wat Phra Dhammakaya has denied involvement in the construction of a pagoda on a hill in Chiang Rai where authorities on Friday halted work as it was built on encroached land.
The temple had "zero involvement" in the project, Phra Sanitwong Wuttiwangso, director of the temple's communication department, said in a statement on Saturday.
He also asked that the news report be removed from the Bangkok Post website.
It remains unclear who owns the project. Reporters are still attempting to contact the officer who led the raid on Friday.
Earlier, ThaiPBS and other Thai media outlets reported that soldiers, forestry officials and police had teamed up to halt the construction of a huge pagoda in Thoeng district of the northern province following a complaint of forest incursion.
The raid was led by Maj-Gen Pornchai Duriyaphan, deputy director of the Chiang Rai Internal Security Operation Command, on orders from the National Council for Peace and Order.
They discovered that a vast area had been landscaped and many trees cut to make way for the construction. No workers were on the site when authorities arrived, but worker camps were built and construction equipment and materials were left there.
Authorities impounded all the equipment and put up a sign ordering construction halted indefinitely.
ThaiPBS said an investigation revealed that a village headman had sold the piece of land atop the hill for 3 million baht to construct the pagoda. It was later found that the site was encroached forest land so the construction was illegal.
It said influential local authorities subsequently were lobbied to facilitate the construction, with a claim that a top government official would chair the opening of the pagoda.
Maj Gen Pornchai said authorities were now looking for those responsible.