DSI presses charges against Dhammakaya spokesman

DSI presses charges against Dhammakaya spokesman

Wat Dhammakaya communications director Phra Sanitwong holds a news briefing at the site on Thursday. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
Wat Dhammakaya communications director Phra Sanitwong holds a news briefing at the site on Thursday. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has filed complaints with the police against the communications director of the besieged Wat Dhammakaya, accusing him of sedition and posting false information online.

DSI deputy spokesman Voranan Srilam said on Saturday that the complaints had been lodged against Phra Sanitwong with the police's Crime Suppression Division.

Sedition is punishable by up to seven years in jail under Section 116 of the Penal Code while the false information charge is punishable by up to five years in jail and/or a fine of up to 100,000 baht, under Section 14(3) of the revised Computer Crimes Act.

The DSI also warned Phra Maha Tossaporn, a monk who appears to have taken over in recent days from Phra Sanitwong as the temple's spokesman, that he could face the same sedition charge if he was not careful.

Until recently, Phra Sanitwong was the voice of the embattled temple whose former abbot, Phra Dhammajayo, faces multiple charges including money laundering, accepting donations of stolen money and encroaching on reserved forests.

Phra Dhammajayo reportedly has been sick and has not responded to multiple summonses for interrogation over the past eight months. After obtaining a search warrant last year, the DSI tried to enter the temple several times but faced resistance from thousands of its disciples.

On Feb 16, the DSI, empowered by an order from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha using Section 44 of the 2014 interim charter, entered the temple. Its officials have since been searching the grounds every day with no success.

They continue to surround the temple, claiming there are some places on the grounds where the monks did not allow them to search.

But Phra Sanitwong denied their account, telling reporters that after 17 days there was no stone left unturned in the temple and the DSI should leave now that its officers had been unable to find the former abbot.

The DSI argues that Section 44 gives it the authority to continue to surround the temple by even though the search warrant has expired. 

One thorny issue said to prevent Phra Dhammajayo from turning himself is the requirement that a monk cannot be jailed -- if a suspect is a monk, he needs to be defrocked first. The temple has bargained for a guarantee that bail would be granted if Phra Dhammajayo turns himself in but authorities would not agree to that condition.

Phra Dhammjayo, 73, has been in the monkhood for 48 years.

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