CHAI NAT - About 100 villagers from tambon Khung Samphao in Manorom district rallied at the city hall on Tuesday, calling for the province's Damrongtham Centre to investigate the financial clerk of a temple in their community, suspecting him of embezzlement.
The villagers show the document indicates that the temple should have almost 12 million baht. (Photo by Chudate Seehawong)
Chanting "we want transparency", the villagers said they want the Damrongtham Centre to investigate Banyat Niyomtham, the financial clerk of Wat Sithikaram.
They suspected Mr Banyat of embezzling the temple's money and accused him of lacking transparency in handling the temple's finances. They demanded Mr Banyat explain where nearly 12 million baht in the temple's coffers had gone to.
An official from the provincial office of Buddhism told the villagers to calm down. He said his office was already auditing the temple's financial account but had not reached a conclusion as some more documents were being sought as evidence of possible wrongdoings.
The official expected the investigation result to come out in a week.
The villagers agreed to disperse, saying they would return in seven days for the answer.