Phra Dhammajayo can be arrested only if the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) decides to indict him in court, Justice Ministe Paiboon Koomchaya said on Monday.
Phra Dhammajayo, the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani, has not been arrested, or even turned up to hear charges, although three warrants have been issued for his arrest in different cases.
His representatives have repeatedly cited illness, temple affairs or asked investigators to question more witnesses to delay matters.
The Department of Special Investigtion (DSI) on May 17 obtained a court warrant for the arrest of Phra Dhammajayo for money-laundering and receiving stolen property in connection with the billion-baht Kongchan Credit Union Cooperative embezzlement scandal.
A DSI team made an attempt to arrest the abbot at the temple in Pathum Thani’s Khlong Luang district on June 16. The arrest bid failed when the abbot’s followers gathered en masse and prevented them entering far beyond the gate.
In this case, the OAG has postponed its decision on whether to indict the monk on five occasions, each time asking the DSI to question additional witnesses.
The attorney-general has rescheduled Nov 30 for the indictment decision.
Gen Paiboon said it would be difficult to arrest Phra Dhammajayo if he had not been indicted by the OAG.
Even if the DSI was able to arrest him, it would be pointless if the OAG did not indict him, he said.
On a suggestion that Phra Dhammajayo appeared to have ignored the arrest warrants, Gen Paiboon said that everybody was subject to the law, including the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
He did not believe those who defy the law were acceptable in a society yearning for equality. "They must fight within the justice process," he added.
Asked how long he thought the attorney-general would take to decide on Phra Dhammajayo's indictment, Gen Paiboon said he did not know and he would not interfere in the OAG's affairs. All he could do was to ask the DSI why it had not completed the investigation and been been repeatedly asked to do more, he said.
If Phra Dhammajayo were indicted, there would be no reason not to arrest him. "Once he is indicted, investigators will not do anything else, just go to get him," he added.
On a rumour that Phra Dhammajayo was not in the temple, Gen Paiboon said: "Rumour is rumour. According to reports reaching me, the monk is still in the temple, but this may be wrong."
Officials had been instructed to be strict about screening people leaving or entering the country.
The abbot also faces an arrest warrant issued by the Loei Provincial Court on Aug 15 after a police investigation found Wat Dhammakaya’s meditation facility in Loei’s Phu Rua encroached on a forest reserve.
On Nov 17, the Sikhiu Provincial Court approved the third warrant for the arrest of Phra Dhammajayo for alleged forest encroachment by the temple’s World Peace Valley Meditation Centre at Khao Yai National Park in Pak Chong district.
