NAKHON RATCHASIMA: The Sikhiu Provincial Court granted bail on Saturday to a former Wat Phra Dhammakaya acting abbot and 19 other monks and laymen charged with forest encroachment at Khao Yai National Park after approving a police request to detain them for 12 days.
Police from the Natural Resources and Environment Crime Suppression Division took Phra Dattajivo, nine other monks and 10 laymen to the court on Saturday to seek approval for a first detention period of 12 days pending further investigation.
All of them have been charged in connection with the temple's World Peace Valley Meditation Centre which was built on reserved forest land at Khao Yai National Park in Pak Chong district.
They are among 21 suspects including former abbot Phra Dhammajayo who were summoned to face the same charges. They belong to the committees of several foundations under the control of Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani.
The court approved the police request to detain the suspects for 12 days before releasing them after their lawyers placed 100,000 baht in cash as surety for each one. Police did not oppose bail.
Criminal suspects can be detained for up to seven 12-day periods, or 84 days, before charges must be formally laid.
All of the suspects were ordered to report to the court on April 5. They left the court without giving any media interviews. More than 100 followers of Wat Phra Dhammakaya showed up to give moral support to the suspects.
Phra Dhammajayo, 72, is wanted for questioning for suspected money-laundering and on numerous charges of building on land without authorisation.
The founder of the Dhammakaya sect has failed to report to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), which is investigating the cases against him. He has not been seen in public for nine months and his supporters say he is being treated for a serious illness.
The government last month invoked Section 44 of the interim constitution to allow authorities to mount a massive search of Wat Dhammakya that dragged on for three weeks without any result.
Phra Dattajivo, 76, was stripped of his monastic rank on March 8 for allegedly investing temple funds, received from the scandal-hit Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative, in the stock market and for providing refuge for Phra Dhammajayo, a friend since their university days together.
