A former chief of the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) accused of embezzling temple funds has been arrested in Texas, according to a source.
Nopparat Benjawattananan, who fled overseas after the scandal surfaced in 2017, was detained on April 11 at a hospital by the US Marshals Service ahead of a formal extradition request expected from the Thai government.
His arrest follows a request by Thai officials who want him extradited to face charges related to the alleged embezzlement. The extradition process could take some time.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) found him to be unusually wealthy and implicated him in the embezzlement of funds from temple budgets.
The NACC ordered the seizure of assets belonging to Mr Nopparat and others worth 94.2 million baht. In December 2023, the NACC decided to charge Mr Nopparat with embezzling 30 million baht in funds.
There are presently 36, out of a total 47, temple fund fraud cases pending NACC investigation in which Mr Nopparat is implicated. There are also more than a dozen other cases being handled by the police Counter-Corruption Division relating to him.
In the NACC inquiry, Mr Nopparat was accused along with two others, the former director of the Buddhist Places Division, Pranom Kongpikul, and the former director of the Temple Restoration and Religious Welfare Section, Wasawat Kittitheerasit, of embezzling funds at three temples in Ayutthaya.
The NACC says the trio demanded the temples pay at least 90% of their annual subsidies in 2013 to them to support temples in remote areas, especially in the Deep South.
Wat Jongkolnee paid the trio 1.6 million baht from their 2-million-baht subsidy and the cheque was paid to Wathanyu Petcharat, one of Mr Nopparat’s siblings.
The other two temples transferred 900,000 baht each from their 1-million-baht annual subsidy to Ms Pranom, according to the investigation.
They were also accused of being involved in the embezzlement of 28 million baht meant to support the renovation of five temples in Bangkok, Samut Songkhram, Samut Prakan, Saraburi and Nakhon Pathom in the 2014 fiscal year.
Investigations found no requests were made by those temples for renovation funds from the NOB.
Nopparat: Charged with corruption
