The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) doubts that Phra Dhammajayo, abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, is as ill as his followers claim.
The abbot's lawyer and followers have repeatedly claimed for the last two months he was too ill to leave the temple in Pathum Thani province to acknowledge charges brought against him at the DSI head office in nearby Chaeng Wattana.
A doctor's certificate presented by the abbot's followers attesting to his illness and inability to travel was issued by a hospital in Ratchaburi province, a DSI source said on Thursday.
The certificate was from the army's Fort Phanurangsri Hospital in Ratchaburi. Pathum Thani and Ratchaburi are more than 100 kilometres apart.
The Criminal Court on Tuesday approved a warrant for Phra Dhammajayo's arrest. The DSI source said it was likely the decision was based on suspicions about the abbot's actual illness.
The 72-year-old abbot is accused of involvement in money laundering and receiving stolen property worth 1.2 billion baht in connection with the 12-billion-baht Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative embezzlement case.
