DSI eyes arrest of ex-monk

[Emdog]

"Buddha would be laughing and weeping at the same time if he saw the atrocities they do in his name.' I am not so sure. I would like to think he being the enlightened one, would more likely be thinking "and what else is new?" or something like that. DSI has sent him and his followers plenty of signals thru these releases that basically say "Don't come back, we'd have to arrest you and it could get ugly for the big boys" (But then again, think of the payoffs....). If they do arrest him, it should be for being so stupid as to return.

[TackyToo]

So they had to wait until he was expelled from the monkhood before they could proceed with legal action. Why, is it some sort of bad karma to go after a serving monk? A criminal is a criminal regardless of their occupation. He is just a guy pretending to have an imaginary friend.

There must be a few U.S citizens in Thai prisons that they can exchange for him or maybe the U.S will want to put this monk on trial themselves.

"A criminal is a criminal regardless of their occupation."

You should know by now- not in a country where a former PM is getting away with his crimes.

[chooka]

This man is nothing more than a front for money laundering scam, clear and simple,

billions of baht have been channeled through him and his "foundations" entities

in an apparent recycling ill gotten funds, and the sooner the DSI will investigate

where all the proceeds, such cars, properties and cash, all traceable, have gone to,

the sooner this matter will be put to rest for what it's really is, a criminal activities.

All remain to see is whether the DSI will dare to fully expose the people involved,

as obviously it seems, high ranking Pu yai, of all walks of the Thai society are deeply

up to their collective necks in this quagmire.

I agree, furthermore, if the dude is coming back to Thailand he will be killed

Good reason to fight extradition then, if it comes to that. Will probably get himself a very good U.S Barrister with all the money he has.

Edited July 14, 2013 by chooka

[aechzen]

he was in america ! new face operation, new passport, and never see again

Edited July 14, 2013 by aechzen
Bold font removed!

[aechzen]

every body want to make korupt money , the rich and the poor !! every body want to be high so !! and show off !!! special here !!

[simple1]

I wonder how, if true, he manages to "live" in the US?

And yes, the US has long had an extradition treaty with Thailand. Link

Probably with a US R1 religious visa, he has visited the US on a number of occasions. Allegedly has US bank accounts and a house. Even though Thai authorities have frozen some of his accounts, it's been alleged he also has 9,000 kilos of gold, donated by his followers. Some Thai monks receive enormous amounts of cash and "gifts" in donations. Not allowed to provide BKK Post URL, so have a look at

http://news.dbv.vn/life-sumptuous-thai-monk-accused-of-embezzling-9-tons-of-gold-142837.html

Edited July 14, 2013 by simple1

[marell]

So they had to wait until he was expelled from the monkhood before they could proceed with legal action. Why, is it some sort of bad karma to go after a serving monk? A criminal is a criminal regardless of their occupation. He is just a guy pretending to have an imaginary friend.

There must be a few U.S citizens in Thai prisons that they can exchange for him or maybe the U.S will want to put this monk on trial themselves.

I believe that monks are not subject to legal action until they have been formally expelled from the monkhood.

Edited July 14, 2013 by marell

[scorecard]

A warrant could lead to the extradition of the monk - also known as Phra Wirapol Sukpol - who is believed to be living in the United States and has refused to return to Thailand as long as there is "no justice" for him.

Same old song, 'no justice', 'it's politically motivated', etc., just now we have a different singer.

Agree, and it would be very interesting to know specifically why he says 'there is no justice for him'.

Edited July 14, 2013 by scorecard

[seminomadic]

So if he's been defrocked, why is the press here still using the terms "Luang" and "phra" before his name?

[requiredinfo]

thais believe that nowhere else on the planet is anywhere as good as his majesty's thailand so not being in thailand is equivalent to being in jail. no further action required. could be right too just ask all the farang who prefer to live here when they can afford to do so,

viewed in the same category as being moved to an inactive post i guess

[finnomick]

How many more do the exact same thing, maybe not to the same scale but corrupt nonetheless.

One has to ask where the other three mentioned thought the cars came from. And how many others are there?

Tell me if I'm wrong, but " the other three " ( at least ) shouldn't even have cars regardless of how senior they are......

[pb1936]

Thai Temples Plc.

[giggles]

it took em some time to discover his nefarious ways and then take action giving him plenty of time to move his illgotten gains out of their clutches.

how many more are doing the same

[bander]

What a mess he have got himself into

[khaowong1]

Well, things have ceretainly gone south for him. I read a lot of pretty outstanding statements on here. ie: Monks shouldn't have cars, monks shouldn't have iphones, notebooks, money in their pockets, etc and etc. It's pretty obvious to we monks, you don't have a clue. I'm guessing your Buddhism bashers, religion bashers or just like to bash everything you don't agree with. It's pretty obvious this monk overstepped the boundaries. And I'm pretty certain, he didn't do it all on his lonesome. As for that poster talking about the 14 year old monk bringing home lot's of cash, a 14 year old can't be a monk.. you have to be 20. 14 year old's are called Nan.. short for novice. In any Buddhist temple I"ve ever been in, a Nan is the last person to get any money from anyone. So I find this story a little suspect. As far as the alleged sexual misconduct with a minor, 14 - 15 year old girl, it may have happened, I'm sure he's not the first young Thai man to have sex with some young Thai girl under 18. As far as the girls child being his, let's wait for the DNA. Without the DNA confirming, it's a he said - she said.. And believe me, everyone in the city or village that girl lives in, knows who the father is. For the rest of his extravagent life style, who gave him this money? That seems to be the question that the Thai authorities are not even asking or considering. To sum it all up, yeah this ex-monk was pretty stupid.. If he had kept below the radar, he could have safely hid this money away, got out of the monk hood and lived a really good life. But stupid is as stupid does, and this ex-monk must be some kind of special stupid. He was tempted and found wanting.. as they say.

[NongKhaiKid]

One may find it hard to believe that authoroties such as the DSI and the Office of National Buddhism (?) knew nothing of this scandal before the Youtube clip that created such uproar was released.

Yes especially for DSI who have a habit of claiming they knew, had been monitoring etc as soon as a major scandal breaks. Possibly a case of not wanting to know and hoping it would go away but it didn't, not yet anyway.

We will know depending on how much effort, or lack of, is put into bringing him back. As they are prepared to indict on 8 charges there's no reason not to ask the US to act. His US visa will need to be re-newed sometime.

[reiltin]

According to the bible the only time Jesus ever used violence was to cast the money changers from the temple,if he'd been born in Thailand the book would read more Tarrintino than St James.....

[nidieunimaitre]

On behalf of the ever growing number of atheists, I wish to thank that monk.

[NCC1701A]

Nine tons of gold. 9 tons X 2000 pounds per ton X 16 ounces per pound = 288,000 ounces.

288,000 ounces X $1279.00 USD = $ 368,352,000 USD.

I wonder if he got it out of the country? Maybe to Singapore gold vault bit by bit?

I would not have gone to the U.S.

Somewhere in South America would have been my choice.

Wear street clothes and grow your hair. Done.

[PoodMaiDai]

As with everything else, stink will be raised until those in charge are paid, and you'll never hear about it again.

[Andre0720]

" who is believed to be living in the United States and has refused to return to Thailand as long as there is "no justice" for him."

This definitely means the situation has permeated the media too much now, for him to buy his way out of it...

[minikev]

Well, things have ceretainly gone south for him. I read a lot of pretty outstanding statements on here. ie: Monks shouldn't have cars, monks shouldn't have iphones, notebooks, money in their pockets, etc and etc. It's pretty obvious to we monks, you don't have a clue. I'm guessing your Buddhism bashers, religion bashers or just like to bash everything you don't agree with. It's pretty obvious this monk overstepped the boundaries. And I'm pretty certain, he didn't do it all on his lonesome. As for that poster talking about the 14 year old monk bringing home lot's of cash, a 14 year old can't be a monk.. you have to be 20. 14 year old's are called Nan.. short for novice. In any Buddhist temple I"ve ever been in, a Nan is the last person to get any money from anyone. So I find this story a little suspect. As far as the alleged sexual misconduct with a minor, 14 - 15 year old girl, it may have happened, I'm sure he's not the first young Thai man to have sex with some young Thai girl under 18. As far as the girls child being his, let's wait for the DNA. Without the DNA confirming, it's a he said - she said.. And believe me, everyone in the city or village that girl lives in, knows who the father is. For the rest of his extravagent life style, who gave him this money? That seems to be the question that the Thai authorities are not even asking or considering. To sum it all up, yeah this ex-monk was pretty stupid.. If he had kept below the radar, he could have safely hid this money away, got out of the monk hood and lived a really good life. But stupid is as stupid does, and this ex-monk must be some kind of special stupid. He was tempted and found wanting.. as they say.

It's very hard to understand your point of view. You seem to defend this person and condone. He was not stupid he was despicable he cheated the people that believed in him and YOU, as you say you are also a monk. This man has destroyed the belief of millions. the truth is that many many more have been doing the same thing for a very long time. This man took it to the highest extremes an opened up a can of worms for the whole religion. As for your quote about the young Naen not being able to collect money it is unfounded the poster says clearly that people give him money not the Temple.

[newermonkey]

So it's " eyeing ' now, a few days ago they were " probing ", faculties of journalism really need to teach a new set of vocabulary.

Anyway the DSI can't arrest him only have him arrested as he's not here.

It's nice 3 monks will return the cars he gave them as they are uneasy, funny thing though they didn't seem to have any qualms about accepting them

"funny thing though they didn't seem to have any qualms about accepting them"

I guess they presumed they were genuine gifts without any shady background, lots of charities "Give" gifts to temples, and its usually all done legally and in good faith (no pun intended).

[NongKhaiKid]

So it's " eyeing ' now, a few days ago they were " probing ", faculties of journalism really need to teach a new set of vocabulary.

Anyway the DSI can't arrest him only have him arrested as he's not here.

It's nice 3 monks will return the cars he gave them as they are uneasy, funny thing though they didn't seem to have any qualms about accepting them

"funny thing though they didn't seem to have any qualms about accepting them"

I guess they presumed they were genuine gifts without any shady background, lots of charities "Give" gifts to temples, and its usually all done legally and in good faith (no pun intended).

A Nelsionian blind eye too maybe

[newermonkey]

So they had to wait until he was expelled from the monkhood before they could proceed with legal action. Why, is it some sort of bad karma to go after a serving monk? A criminal is a criminal regardless of their occupation. He is just a guy pretending to have an imaginary friend.

There must be a few U.S citizens in Thai prisons that they can exchange for him or maybe the U.S will want to put this monk on trial themselves.

"A criminal is a criminal regardless of their occupation."

You should know by now- not in a country where a former PM is getting away with his crimes.

The case of the former PM may be different they say they want him back but in fact they really really don't.

It all will depend very much on where the money was coming from and do those supporters and backers have power real power? and are the authorities capable of chewing their right hand off?

[newermonkey]

My guess is the US authorities wont buy the "no justice" plea when the positive DNA tests come in, but how do they get the DNA samples? from the temple of course, I think they may keep some hair before shaving the head of a monk (part of the ceremony) and some sick people keep the cut toe nails of a revered monk!!

[Curt1591]

Wouldn't it be nice if the concentrated this diligently on Red Bull Boy's case ?!

[finnomick]

Well, things have ceretainly gone south for him. I read a lot of pretty outstanding statements on here. ie: Monks shouldn't have cars, monks shouldn't have iphones, notebooks, money in their pockets, etc and etc. It's pretty obvious to we monks, you don't have a clue. I'm guessing your Buddhism bashers, religion bashers or just like to bash everything you don't agree with. It's pretty obvious this monk overstepped the boundaries. And I'm pretty certain, he didn't do it all on his lonesome. As for that poster talking about the 14 year old monk bringing home lot's of cash, a 14 year old can't be a monk.. you have to be 20. 14 year old's are called Nan.. short for novice. In any Buddhist temple I"ve ever been in, a Nan is the last person to get any money from anyone. So I find this story a little suspect. As far as the alleged sexual misconduct with a minor, 14 - 15 year old girl, it may have happened, I'm sure he's not the first young Thai man to have sex with some young Thai girl under 18. As far as the girls child being his, let's wait for the DNA. Without the DNA confirming, it's a he said - she said.. And believe me, everyone in the city or village that girl lives in, knows who the father is. For the rest of his extravagent life style, who gave him this money? That seems to be the question that the Thai authorities are not even asking or considering. To sum it all up, yeah this ex-monk was pretty stupid.. If he had kept below the radar, he could have safely hid this money away, got out of the monk hood and lived a really good life. But stupid is as stupid does, and this ex-monk must be some kind of special stupid. He was tempted and found wanting.. as they say.

It's very hard to understand your point of view. You seem to defend this person and condone. He was not stupid he was despicable he cheated the people that believed in him and YOU, as you say you are also a monk. This man has destroyed the belief of millions. the truth is that many many more have been doing the same thing for a very long time. This man took it to the highest extremes an opened up a can of worms for the whole religion. As for your quote about the young Naen not being able to collect money it is unfounded the poster says clearly that people give him money not the Temple.

defend and condone......then write " this ex-monk must be some kind of special stupid ". So much for your brotherhood

[buhi]

Please allow me to introduce myself , I'm a man of wealth and taste!

[Buckeye21]

This story is getting more interesting as new facts get released. This could make for a great movie. I would love to see Ken Jeong (Mr. Chow from the hangover movie) play the part of the monk.