His Majesty the King has revoked the monastic ranks of seven senior monks, five of them in police custody and two at large, for money laundering and alleged embezzlement of temple funds.
The monks were residents of three popular Bangkok temples.
The royal command comes amid a report that Phra Phrom Sitthi, the abbot of Wat Sa Ket, would surrender to police on Wednesday afternoon.
He and Phra Phrom Methee, assistant abbot of Wat Samphanthawong, remained at large after police raids last Thursday to arrest the seven monks in connection with the alleged payment of "change" in return for funding for projects.
All seven have had their high-ranking titles in the "Phrom" and lower classes of the monkhood withdrawn, according to the announcement in the Royal Gazette on May 29.
The others included Phra Phrom Dilok, abbot of Wat Sam Phraya and his secretary, Phra Atthakit Sophon.
The other three were assistant abbots of Wat Sa Ket. They are Phra Ratcha Uppasenaphon, or Phra Methi Suthikon (his old monastic rank), Phra Ratcha Kitchaphon, or Phra Wichit Thammaporn (his old monastic rank) and Phra Sri Khunaporn.
The seven monks are among a number of suspects in the siphoning of tens of millions of baht from temple development and Buddhism study funds allocated by the National Office of Buddhism.
Some NOB officials and laymen are also among the suspects.
According to investigators, the officials contacted temple abbots to propose funding for projects and demanded kickbacks. The temple abbots were expected to give them some "change" in exchange for projects at the temples.
Authorities have so far launched four rounds of investigation into the suspected corruption at dozens of temples countrywide.
The seven senior monks were implicated in the irregularities during the third round of the probe, which involved 10 temples in Bangkok. Suspects were accused of pocketing at least 70 million baht of state funds intended for the teaching of Buddhism.