The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and police admit they are having problems raiding Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple and arresting its 72-year-old former abbot Phra Dhammajayo. They have failed to reach any conclusion on an operation plan after a five-hour meeting on Monday. Phra Dhammajayo has stayed inside the temple for months, saying he is too ill to face officials. He denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated and he would enter the judicial process only when the country returned to democracy. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order and now it is run by military.
Phra Dhammajayo is wanted on charges of alleged involvement in laundering money and receiving stolen property in connection with the multi-billion-baht Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative embezzlement scandal. The case was investigated by the DSI. Thousands of supporters of the influential Thai Buddhist abbot have blocked his arrest in a police raid. Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Srivara said that there are not enough authorized police officers to execute the search warrant because, according to the law, they must be at least sub-lieutenants. "Police will not use any weapons during the search. But people should not behave like villains. The law applies equally to everyone," Pol Gen Srivara said. He added those who obstruct the operation will face legal action.
This case goes back to the past, specifically to 1999, when Abbot Phra Dhammachayo was suspended from his post and was standing trial on charges of embezzlement and malfeasance for purchasing several plots of land in several provinces.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya was founded in 1970 by Maechi (nun) Chandra Khonnokyoong and Luang Por Dhammajayo and is the most well-known and the fastest growing temple of the Dhammakaya Movement or the Dhammakaya meditation tradition which was started by Luang Pu Sodh Candasaro in the early twentieth century. Critics have accused it of distorting the traditional teachings of Buddhism, and taking followers away from local temples. This temple is specific for another reason too – its alleged close links to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the red shirt movement which supports him.
Deputy police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul has ordered 1,800 police from Samut Prakan, Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Ang Thong, and Lop Buri to be deployed to assist the DSI mission. Meanwhile, it was reported from Dhammakaya Temple that followers still gathered inside, following reports of an imminent raid.
Photo Credits: Buddha Channel
