Prime Minister's Office Minister Chusak Sirinil has called for criminal charges to be filed against a senior monk from Chiang Mai who hired a fellow monk to sit a level-five Pali examination for him in Bangkok.
This follows an order by the Chiang Mai ecclesiastical office to dismiss the senior monk, whose name was not given, as abbot of a well-known temple in the province and also as head of the tambon clergy order in San Pa Tong district.
The stand-in was caught at the exam venue on Feb 24-25 at Sanam Luang in Bangkok's Phra Nakhon district.
Phra Thepmangkalachan, abbot of Wat Tha Ton in Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district and ecclesiastical provincial governor of the northern province, signed an official order on Sunday to remove the monk from the two positions.
The monk's action of hiring another to sit the exam for him amounts to a serious violation of Buddhist monastic discipline, damaging the integrity of the religion.
Mr Chusak said he has informed the director of the National Office of Buddhism of the matter, which he insisted also constitutes a criminal offence. He urged the office to take swift action.
This case also brought to light the broader loopholes in regional examinations reserved for monks, as they often lack the same strict monitoring as those in Bangkok, making it easier for monks to hire substitutes.
The senior monk in question is now facing further investigation and potential disciplinary action, including the possibility of being defrocked.
It has been reported in the media that the monk is 35 years old and often wears sunglasses in public.
His stand-in also wore sunglasses while taking the exam but appeared much older than the senior monk.