The police Counter-Corruption Division (CCD) will forward a case involving four state officials suspected to have embezzled 60 million baht in temple maintenance funds to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) this week.
CCD chief Kamol Reanracha said four National Office of Buddhism (NOB) officials have been charged with corruption in office while four civilians allegedly embroiled in the case have been charged with aiding and abetting crime.
The four officials had reported to answer the charge but the four civilian suspects have not shown up, Pol Maj Gen Kamol said.
The officials had been released because the CCD, an agency under the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), will have to submit an investigation report to the NACC first.
If the anti-graft agency finds there are grounds to the charge, it will send the report back to the prosecution or the CCD for action.
By that time, the officials will have been summoned again and placed in police custody, Pol Maj Gen Kamol said, adding the suspects have the right to seek bail.
NOB director Pongporn Pramsaneh said Sunday that he will meet Prime Minister's Office Minister Ormsin Chivapruck, who oversees the NOB, today to report details of the case and will seek the government guidelines on the matter.
The NOB will wait for the NACC's decision on the case, Pol Lt Gen Pongporn said, adding that any NOB officials found guilty will face disciplinary action.
A police source said the four state officials include a former director-general of the NOB and two officials from that office.
According to Pol Maj Gen Kamol, 12 temples nationwide are suspected of involvement in embezzlement of maintenance funds worth 60 million baht dispensed by the NOB.
Of the 12 temples, six are in the North, three in the Northeast, two in the Central Plains region and one in the South.
An investigation was conducted based on an examination of the state budget dispensed to temples across the country during 2012-2016.
A raid was launched last Wednesday as part of the government's first operation to suppress corruption in temples.
A house in Sakon Nakhon's Phanna Nikhom district, another in Nakhon Pathom's Buddha Monthon district, and the other in Samut Prakan's Muang district were targeted.
The three houses belong to people in the networks allegedly involved in the embezzlement scandal.
In 2015, the Office of the Auditor-General tipped off the CCD that it had uncovered corruption at one temple in Phetchaburi.
State officials allegedly pocketed part of maintenance funds allocated to the temple by the NOB.
However, the CCD at that time failed to arrest them as the accused had been alerted to the operation and did not appear at the temple.
The CCD later widened the probe and found several other temples nationwide committed similar malpractices, resulting in the latest raid.
Pol Maj Gen Kamol said the investigation was launched into four networks allegedly involved in the embezzlement scandal.
The first group in in the North, Central and South and the second network is based in the North.
The other two networks operate in the Central and Northeastern regions.
The CCD will not take legal action against monks allegedly embroiled in the case as investigators considered them victims of the fraud.
Instead they will be treated as witnesses, Pol Maj Gen Kamol said.
Pol Col Wiwat Chaisangkha, a CCD deputy chief, said investigators have detected alleged irregularities in the transfer of money from the maintenance funds to temples' bank accounts.
After the money was transferred, temples had to return up to 80% of the money to the embezzlement gang. The money returned was referred to as "change", Pol Col Wiwat said.
For example, if one million baht was transferred to a temple, the temple had to give 800,000 baht in "change" back to the gang, while the temple actually received only 200,000 baht, Pol Col Wiwat said. It is not clear how they were able to compel the temples to hand over the money.
A source said the NOB allocates between 400 million-500 million baht for maintenance of temples nationwide annually.