Luang Pu Nen Kham Chattiko is likely to face charges of having sex with an underage girl among several other offences, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said on Saturday.
Luang Pu Buddha Isara, the abbot of Wat Or Noi in Nakhon Pathom’s Kamphaeng Saen district, enters the Criminal Court yesterday to file a complaint against Phra Wirapol Sukphol, better known as Luang Pu Nen Kham Chattiko, accusing him of committing fraud and being a bogus monk. APICHIT JINAKUL
DSI chief Tarit Pengdit told reporters that his agency had made progress in the investigation into alleged misconduct by the monk, who is also known as Phra Wirapol Sukphol, especially sexual relations with as many as eight women during his monkhood.
Investigators questioned one of the women who said that she began to have an affair with the monk when she was 14 years old. This was a serious criminal offence, said Mr Tarit.
The woman, who is now an adult, would be put in the witness protection programme, he added.
Authorities are also pursuing investigations into other possible offences related to fraud, claims of supernatural powers, money-laundering.
Mr Tarit said he would propose that the matter be taken up as a special case when the DSI's special cases committee meets later this month.
The issue has harmed the reputation and stability of the religious institutions and shaken people's faith, he added.
In another development, Phra Ratchadhamma Kosol, the abbot of Wat Tai Phra Jao Yai Ong Dua in Ubon Ratchathani, at which Phra Wirapol was registered, said the monk had been expelled from the temple.
Sangha regulations allowed Phra Wirapol to stay outside the temple for a maximum of seven days but he has resided at Wat Pa Khanti Tham in Si Sa Ket since 2006, Phra Ratchadhamma said in his capacity of the ecclesiastical provincial governor of Ubon Ratchathani.
The decision was reached by a sub-committee set up to decide whether the monk's membership at the temple should be stripped.
A committee chaired by Phra Ratchadhamma will consider the sub-committee’s conclusion and announce its decision on Tuesday.
Waranchai Chokchana, president of the Thai Buddhists Group, said he would lodge a police complaint with the Crime Suppression Division on Monday against Phra Wirapol on charge of dressing to impersonate a monk.
He alleged that Phra Wirapol dressed as a monk to persuade other people to donate money to him, which violated Section 27 of the Sangha Act, BE 2505 (1962).
The offence carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail and/or a fine of 6,000 baht.
The DSI said on Friday that it had discovered 41 bank accounts linked to Phra Wirapol and his associates, and had shared the information with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo).
According to the DSI, the monk was found to possibly own two houses in Ubon Ratchathani and Si Sa Ket, as well as 13 cars and motorcycles.
The DSI, the National Office of Buddhism and Amlo will hold a meeting next week concerning the monk.
Luang Pu Buddha Isara, the abbot of Wat Or Noi in Nakhon Pathom's Kamphaeng Saen district, on Friday lodged a complaint with the Criminal Court in Bangkok against Phra Wirapol and his associates for dressing like monks despite being fakes and for fraud.