The government's latest bid to probe alleged corruption conspiracy of state assistance funds by former and current officials of the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) and 12 temples across the country has received great applause from the public, and this will be a big success for the government if the alleged suspects are convicted and serve jail terms for their unscrupulous actions.
All forms of bribery and corruption are wholly unacceptable and should not be tolerated. Worse, if those who are allegedly involved in corruption are state officials and Buddhist monks, they should face double the punishment if they are caught.
Anucha Charoenpo is news editor, Bangkok Post.
I support law enforcement agencies, especially the police, taking strict actions and enforcing laws related more stringently to investigate and deal with corruption activities in all state agencies so taxpayers' money will no longer be abused. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 ranked Thailand 101 out of 176 nations. The index examines public sector corruption. I demand swift action to end the impunity of officials engaged in corruption and instead uphold the rule of law to bring corrupt officials to justice.
I clearly recall when former Army chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha took the helm at Government House as the prime minister three years ago, he pledged to get rid of all forms of bribery and corruption during his term. And I think most Thais think the same. They are keeping an eye on his government to see how much progress has been made towards corruption suppression in all state agencies, especially anything involved with the army's budget spending.
One of those corruption cases now the focus of public attention is the government's latest probe into state assistance funds given to 12 temples nationwide. Six are in the North, three in the Northeast, two in the Central region and one in the South.
The 12 temples are suspected of involvement in embezzlement of maintenance funds worth 60 million baht dispensed by the NOB.
This case was exposed last Thursday when the authorities led by Counter Corruption Division (CCD) police raided 10 temples and houses nationwide to gather evidence of alleged corruption linked with four NOB officials after the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) found records of suspicious transactions. One of the houses raided belonged to an NOB official in Nakhon Pathom. At his house, police found several bank books believed to have been used in the transactions. The names of the officials have not been disclosed so far.
When the CCD completes its investigation, the agency will have to submit the case to the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) to consider whether the case has grounds to set up a sub-panel to look further into the case so as to indict the four NOB officials on the relevant charges or send back the case to the CCD for further investigation.
In Thailand I could hardly expect to see the authorities widen their probe into alleged corruption collusion between state and temple officials, but definitely not this time. Thanks largely to the OAG, CCD and the government as the key supporter for their serious investigations, we are seeing progress against graft. It was Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha himself who ordered the investigation into irregularities in the allocation of renovation funds for temples across the country following the alleged collusion between state and temple officials at these 12 temples.
Of course, another main reason is that the majority of Thais are Buddhists who put their trust in monks as they believe holy men, particularly head monks and temple abbots, would never become involved in corruption. And I do believe most Thai Buddhists are overly optimistic or lok suay. They might think these monks are free from greed, hatred, love, passion and bad thoughts. But not all monks are respected for their chaste life and good work.
Only a few monks and temples among the 300,000 monks and 40,000 temples nationwide may really be guilty of fraud. Only a few temples are likely to be problematic in my view. I want the NOB, as the key agency overseeing Buddhist affairs, to be more vigilant in checking budget spending by NOB officials and senior monks responsible for budget management at temples. The case of the 12 temples and former and current officials of the NOB found to have embezzled temple renovation funds should not taint Buddhism as a whole.
As for this alleged corruption conspiracy case, according to Prime Minister's Office Minister Ormsin Chivapruck, who oversees the NOB, the anti-corruption campaign at temples began after the OAG traced money trails between the NOB and more than 60 temples from 2012 to 2016, and found irregularities in 12 of them.
The OAG forwarded the case to the CCD, an agency under the Central Investigation Bureau, to further investigate the case to see how many people are allegedly involved.
The CCD found four NOB officials suspected to have embezzled 60 million baht in temple maintenance funds. They also found four civilians allegedly embroiled in the case and have been charged with aiding and abetting the crime.
The four officials have reported to answer the charges but the four civilian suspects have not shown up. The four officials had been released because the CCD has to submit an investigation report to the NACC first. If the anti-graft agency finds grounds for the charge, it will send the report back to the prosecution or the CCD for action.
Pol Col Wiwat Chaisangkha, CCD deputy chief, said investigators have detected alleged irregularities in the transfer of money from the maintenance funds to the temples' bank accounts.
After the money was transferred, the 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.
The NOB allocates between 400 million and 500 million baht for maintenance of temples nationwide annually.
Besides the current probe into corruption conspiracy by state officials and monks, I believe there are still various forms of corruption in the financial affairs of each temple which should be revamped for the sake of transparency and faith in Buddhism.
I am 100 % Buddhist. I get up early to give food to monks during alms rounds. I apply the five precepts, the basis of Buddhist morality, to my life. I enter a temple to receive blessings from monks and put money in lots of donation boxes. I do not feel that's a waste of my money if it is used properly and correctly according to the real needs of a temple. Most importantly, my money and yours should not be abused by a particular group of person.
To prevent more corruption in monastic affairs, people in each community should keep an eye on the budget spending of their temple and inform the police and authorities if they find any irregularities.