Bangkok: “Suchart” sees an opportunity to take action against “Ms. Golf”, saying the charges are serious. As for the monks who are at fault, they should disrobe themselves, not wait for them to disrobe. Mr. Suchart Tancharoen, Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office, mentioned the case where the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct approved the arrest warrant for Ms. Golf on charges of supporting officials to perform their duties improperly, Section 147, money laundering, conspiracy to launder money, and receiving stolen goods after finding the financial trail of the former Phra Thep Patcharaporn, former abbot of Wat Chu Chit Thammaram, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, who transferred 380,000 baht, which was money from the temple’s account.

According to Thai News Agency, after looking at the Criminal Code, Section 338, a way to press charges was identified, involving a threat to extort money, which was conducted as a normal business. It will fall under Section 3 of the Money Laundering Act, which can be charged additionally. It is a serious charge. There was a threat to extort money because judging from what was in the news, no need to look at the evidence, it is clear. I believe that the police have a lot of evidence. This will be the first example of a case that undermines religion, so that no one dares to follow. As for whether the National Office of Buddhism will press additional charges or not, we have to talk to the investigators. We did not look into the details. When asked if it was considered that the police worked quickly, Mr. Suchart said that we wanted that because we did not want it to be an example or to be used in this manner again. Whoever does wrong must be arrested, must be arrested immediately, must be severely punished, other
s will not dare. Buddhism must call for faith, not just have news like this.

Mr. Suchart also mentioned about the senior monk who agreed to disrobe, saying that it is better to disrobe on your own than to wait for an arrest warrant from the court. If you do something wrong, you should disrobe, not wait to be disrobed. You have to know yourself. You are a senior monk, and there are no exceptions, even if there is no romantic relationship. Transferring money alone is not enough, because the money is not monk money. It is temple property that was received from people who made merit to support the religion. You cannot give it to anyone. If you claim that it is personal money, I ask you where did you get your personal money from? If it is not the people’s money, monks should not hold money. They should be able to have just enough to live on according to the four necessities.

While Mr. Suchart was giving an interview to the media, it was at the same time that Ms. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as the Minister of Culture, walked down from the Command Building to go to the Khu Fah Building. Mr. Suchart raised his hands in greeting and said that regarding the monks, he had done as he had ordered. The Prime Minister then laughed and raised his hands in greeting to Mr. Suchart.