The National Reform Council (NRC) has called on the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) to confiscate money and assets from Wat Phra Dhammakaya and its abbot, Phra Dhammachayo.
The council is concerned the temple has been exploited for money-laundering purposes, said Paibul Nititawan, chairman of the NRC's committee on Buddhism protection yesterday.
Mr Paibul was speaking after a meeting with Amlo representatives yesterday regarding accusations the temple and its former abbot received more than 900 million baht in donations from Supachai Srisupa-aksorn, the former chairman of the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative, who is accused of embezzling 12 billion baht from the cooperative.
According to Mr Paibul, Amlo found eight cheques totalling 348.78 million baht had been paid into Phra Dhammachayo's bank accounts.
Activist monk Phra Buddha Isra hands a petition to Prime Minister's Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul seeking an investigation of Wat Phra Dhammakaya abbot Phra Dhammachayo. Chanat Katanyu
The monk later paid the money to the Ubasika Chandra Foundation — connected to Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
Six more cheques totalling 436 million baht were also made out to Wat Phra Dhammakaya, and another 119.02 million baht to Phra Palat Wichan, Phra Dhammachayo's assistant, said Mr Paibul, citing reports from yesterday's meeting.
The 119.02 million baht paid to Phra Dhammachayo's assistants has been withdrawn and could not be traced, Mr Paibul said.
"The NRC committee thinks Amlo should begin investigating this immediately," he said.
Mr Paibul said he asked Amlo yesterday why it had not considered freezing the remaining 300 million baht in Phra Dhammachayo's personal bank accounts.
The NRC committee wants Amlo to seize all Phra Dhammachayo's assets, including 196 rai of Wat Phra Dhammakaya's land and the buildings on the premises, Mr Paibul said.
More than 1,000 rai nationwide are owned by the Dhammakaya Foundation and organisations related to the temple and they need to be confiscated for inspection, he said.
These land plots can be confiscated right away because they are being held by the foundations, not the temple itself, he said.
The NRC committee is also considering asking the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to consider launching a criminal probe against Phra Dhammachayo's assistant.
At its next meeting on March 3, the NRC committee will invite the DSI and the Land Department for discussions, Mr Paibul said.
A source at the Office of the Ombudsman said it is preparing to launch an investigation into the latest resolution by the Sangha Supreme Council (SSC) that on Friday cleared Phra Dhammachayo of allegations of impropriety.
The office has received a number of complaints from Buddhists who could not agree with the SSC's decision and thought the council had failed to respond to the late supreme patriarch's recommendation that Phra Dhammachayo be defrocked for grave violations of the Buddhist monks' code of conduct.
Activist monk Phra Buddha Isra petitioned the DSI to investigate allegations that a one-tonne Buddhist statue made of gold was given by Phra Dhammachayo as a gift to acting Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn, who chairs the SSC.
He also accused SSC members of owning luxury cars.
Meanwhile, a group of monks and supporters of the SSC have come out to counter the NRC committee's probe and accusations by Phra Buddha Isra.
The group, led by Phra Methithammajarn, vice-rector of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, said it will submit a petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and NRC president Thienchay Kiranandana requesting them to dissolve the committee chaired by Mr Paibul.
They claim the NRC committee is not impartial and is trying to create a schism in the Buddhist community.
"The group wants the NRC to revise two issues. First, the selection of the committee's members, and second the grounds for the committee's establishment," he said.
The group accuses the committee of assuming incorrectly that problems in the monkhood are a result of the 1962 Sangha Act and denies the claim, saying the law is efficient.