Pathum Thani: The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) plans to acquire a warrant to search Wat Phra Dhammakaya to arrest embattled abbot Phra Dhammajayo who failed to report in to acknowledge charges against him before Thursday's deadline.
Khachornsak Phutthanuparp, a prosecutor from the Office of the Attorney-General, said DSI investigators and prosecutors will meet today to discuss seeking court approval for the search warrant.
This means the previous conditions agreed upon between the temple and investigators will change, Mr Khachornsak said.
"Previously, investigators agreed they would not lay a finger on the monk if he reported in to authorities. We tried to act in a gentlemanly manner," Mr Khachornsak said.
"We have followed the law and treated the monk with the respect he deserves. At 10am tomorrow [May 27], we will discuss legal steps to arrest him," Mr Khachornsak said.
He said the process for Phra Dhammajayo to hear the charges against him would not be complicated and neither would it take a long time.
He warned Phra Dhammajayo's followers against obstructing authorities' attempts to arrest the monk, saying this would be against the law.
If there is any unrest while authorities carry out the arrest, this could justify refusing the abbot bail, Mr Khachornsak said.
The DSI had set Thursday as the deadline for the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya to acknowledge charges against him. The DSI said it would grant bail to the abbot if he surrendered by the deadline.
Bail has been set at 5 million baht.
The temple on Thursday released new video it says shows Phra Dhammajayo in extreme distress, and under medical treatment at Thammasat University Hospital in Pathum Thani. (Photos by Pongpat Wongyala from video feed)
On May 17, the Criminal Court approved an arrest warrant for the abbot requested by the DSI after the 72-year-old repeatedly failed to meet investigators when summoned to discuss claims he was involved 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.
Mr Khachornsak said Samphan Sermcheep, the abbot's lawyer, wrote to inform investigators that Phra Dhammajayo would show up at 2.30pm at Khlong Luang police station in Pathum Thani to hear the charges.
The lawyer said the abbot could not go to the DSI office, which is located at the Government Complex on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok, as his doctors had advised him against travelling since he was not fit enough to do so.
The lawyer also said many of his disciples might follow him to the DSI office, causing a commotion there.
He suggested Phra Dhammajayo report to Khlong Luang police station opposite the temple in Pathum Thani instead.
Mr Khachornsak said that DSI investigators and prosecutors arrived at the police station and waited for the abbot to show up.
He added that investigators also brought three doctors from the Police General Hospital to examine Phra Dhammajayo.
But when the time came for his arrival, his lawyer appeared at Khlong Luang police station and told DSI investigators the abbot would not be able to show up because Phra Dhammajayo had suddenly felt dizzy and fainted.
Mr Khachornsak said investigators then suggested Phra Dhammajayo be brought for treatment at Thammasat University Hospital in Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district so authorities could bring formal charges against him there.
If the monk cannot report to the DSI to hear the charges, other government offices or state-run hospitals can be used as alternative venues, Mr Khachornsak said.
However, Mr Khachornsak said the monk's doctors later told him the abbot was too ill to travel and that he did not want to be treated at the hospital as suggested.
In a statement issued by the temple, Phra Sanitwongse Wuttiwangso, director of Wat Phra Dhammakaya's communications office, said the temple insisted on the abbot's innocence.
Even though he was "seriously ill", the abbot was ready to comply with legal procedures, the statement said.
Pol Col Samart Srisiriwibulchai, deputy chief of Pathum Thani police, said Thursday he had instructed intelligence units in the province to gather information about the activities of both supporters and opponents of Phra Dhammajayo.
Security units had been put on high alert and they were ready for rapid deployment to maintain peace and order, Pol Col Samart said.