Extradition of former Thai monk held up

[webfact]

Extradition of ex-monk held up
Piyanut Tumnukasetchai
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- THE DEPARTMENT of Special Investigation (DSI) is waiting for public prosecutors to arraign a notorious former monk known as Nenkham on all five charges before an extradition process can resume.

"We had tried to have him sent back to Thailand before but faced with legal obstacles. So, we will need to wait till public prosecutors go ahead with all five charges for us to proceed further," DSI chief Suwana Suwanjata said yesterday.

The DSI Bureau of Security Crime said it has pressed charges of taking a minor away from her parents, statutory rape, public fraud, money laundering, and computer crimes against Wirapol Sukpol - who was previously known as Luang Pu Nenkham Chattigo. "So far, public prosecutors have decided to go ahead with the first two charges only. They have not yet made a decision on the remaining charges," the bureau's director Pong-In Intarakhao said.

But Thai authorities had already revoked Wirapol's passport, he said.

"It's up to the foreign country he visits whether it will allow him in," Pong-In said.

Wirapol fled abroad last year, after a scandal broke out over claims over a raft of wrongdoing, including having sexual relations with a minor while he wore saffron and was supposed to uphold the vow of celibacy.

He has caught media attention again after claims emerged online recently that Wirapol continues to wear a monk's robes and has been living in the United States.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Extradition-of-ex-monk-held-up-30247998.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-18

[Bluespunk]

"Wirapol fled abroad last year, after a scandal broke out over claims over a raft of wrongdoing, including having sexual relations with a minor while he wore saffron and was supposed to uphold the vow of celibacy."

Yes, because his celibacy is the issue here!

My, oh my, the things that are focused upon at times is just ridiculous.

[EricBerg]

So Thai authorities occasionally do revoke a criminal's passport? Good. Please let us know if they revoked the diplomatic passport of that other criminal as well. He got it from the previous government while on the run. I hope the public prosecutor will do his work well.

[cloghead]

the 'public prosecutors' are waiting for the rest of the promised bank transfers to arrive before they drop all the charges for 'lack of evidence'...

[ezzra]

The problem is really about Thailand not wanting to expose the dirty linens of it's clergy to the world to see,

sort of a black eye and a blemish on what they hold dear and sacred the most,

plus, no matter what wrongs a monk/abbot will do, there are always people who will still follow and continue

to trust, idolize and worship those people no matter what dirty deeds they have done, and some of those

people happened to be big donors and very, very influential.....

[Chwooly]

no matter what wrongs a monk/abbot will do, there are always people who will still follow and continue

to trust, idolize and worship those people no matter what dirty deeds they have done, and some of those

people happened to be big donors and very, very influential.....

I think you should be saying Priest/Mullah/Rabbi/Monk/Religious leader, This is a problem with religion in general and much more prevalent in the west, Just look at the peadophile scandals with the Catholic Church and lets not forget the rash of Honor killings that happen in the name of religion in the 'stans

[Commerce]

So kidnapping and statutory rape are not 2 reasons good enough to request extradition, but they need to prosecute for money laundering and computer crimes as well, before they will act?

[ezzra]

no matter what wrongs a monk/abbot will do, there are always people who will still follow and continue

to trust, idolize and worship those people no matter what dirty deeds they have done, and some of those

people happened to be big donors and very, very influential.....

I think you should be saying Priest/Mullah/Rabbi/Monk/Religious leader, This is a problem with religion in general and much more prevalent in the west, Just look at the peadophile scandals with the Catholic Church and lets not forget the rash of Honor killings that happen in the name of religion in the 'stans

Indeed, all those people who hide behind long white beards, turbans, and other head gear, tonics and long

flowing robs, dangling all sorts of religious icons and chanting and mumbling stuff no one can really understand anyway..... yes, all of them are nothing but charlatans and looking for their own gains...

[noitom]

Big Thai news.

[Langsuan Man]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

[jaidam]

In terms of damage done to the country of Thailand, this greedy monk is irrelevant/ a minor blemish. On the other hand, a certain very high ranking policeman, who suddenly found half a billion baht around the same day that he herded up 2 scapegoats in a high profile case involving an influential family, has caused massive and long lasting damage(as well as 100% ruining any chance of his good buddy Gen P's post coup reforms, and a peaceful reconciled nation). Shame on you, step down now, give back the money, and stop harassing others that filtched but a fraction of your ill gotten booty. Your greed and stupidity has directly affected the well-being of 70 odd million people.

[Pimay1]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

[Chang_paarp]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

You are assuming he is still travelling on the original passport used to leave the country. Having been abroad for some time with access to adequate funds there is a chance the, now former monk, has others.

[Sviss Geez]

"Wirapol fled abroad last year, after a scandal broke out over claims over a raft of wrongdoing, including having sexual relations with a minor while he wore saffron and was supposed to uphold the vow of celibacy."

Yes, because his celibacy is the issue here!

My, oh my, the things that are focused upon at times is just ridiculous.

"...a raft of wrongdoing including ...the vow of celibacy."

My, oh my, how some posters focus on twisting what was actually said. Celibacy is not the only issue here as very clearly stated in your own quote.

[Gunna]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

You are assuming he is still travelling on the original passport used to leave the country. Having been abroad for some time with access to adequate funds there is a chance the, now former monk, has others.

Montenegro is a popular place for Thai criminals to get passports from.

[Pimay1]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

You are assuming he is still travelling on the original passport used to leave the country. Having been abroad for some time with access to adequate funds there is a chance the, now former monk, has others.

Noted. And you know what assuming does.

[Dogmatix]

The Thai authorities always do a poor job on extradition requests. For every successful request like Rakesh Saxena, there are probably about 10 balls ups, many of which are botched so badly one can assume that tea money was paid.

The case of Pin Chakaphat involved many visits to the UK by teams of officials flying first class and staying in luxury hotels. The case was flawed from the start as there was no evidence of an extraditable offence under the Anglo-Siam Treaty, since Pin had extended loans imprudently at Finance One and had failed to comply with some prudential lending rules of the BoT but this was not a fraud because he had not benefited from it personally. He was just made a scapegoat for the financial crisis to allow politicians who had defrauded state banks and their bankers go free.

I am willing to bet that the case of this fake monk will run like the Pin case, rather than Rakesh Saxena, although, unlike Pin, the fake monk obviously belongs in jail. Rakesh was an evil character who deserves to be in jail, where he is now, but most of the politicians he helped defraud Bangkok Bank of Commmerce, a state owned bank, are still alive and receiving deep wais at cocktail parties on account of their massive ill gotten gains.

[wwest5829]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

Cute but immaterial, and incorrect to the subject at hand.

[Don Aleman]

+ So now it's clear that religion and law enforcement are all involved in some sort of scam or another ! I just have to run faster to catch up. Being from Chicago I have an image to protect and I'll teach those cops/monks not to invade my territory !

[Bluespunk]

"Wirapol fled abroad last year, after a scandal broke out over claims over a raft of wrongdoing, including having sexual relations with a minor while he wore saffron and was supposed to uphold the vow of celibacy."

Yes, because his celibacy is the issue here!

My, oh my, the things that are focused upon at times is just ridiculous.

"...a raft of wrongdoing including ...the vow of celibacy."

My, oh my, how some posters focus on twisting what was actually said. Celibacy is not the only issue here as very clearly stated in your own quote.

No but it is utterly irrelevant to his crime of rape, statutory or not, and therefore a useless, pointless and fake moral/religious outrage, piece of information. It is unnecessary, trivial and implies this somehow makes the rape itself worse.

OK

[Benmart]

no matter what wrongs a monk/abbot will do, there are always people who will still follow and continue

to trust, idolize and worship those people no matter what dirty deeds they have done, and some of those

people happened to be big donors and very, very influential.....

I think you should be saying Priest/Mullah/Rabbi/Monk/Religious leader, This is a problem with religion in general and much more prevalent in the west, Just look at the peadophile scandals with the Catholic Church and lets not forget the rash of Honor killings that happen in the name of religion in the 'stans

Indeed, all those people who hide behind long white beards, turbans, and other head gear, tonics and long

flowing robs, dangling all sorts of religious icons and chanting and mumbling stuff no one can really understand anyway..... yes, all of them are nothing but charlatans and looking for their own gains...

I don't know them all, so I can't lump them all together.

[Chwooly]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

Since his passport has been revoked while he is an illegal immigrant if he has a good immigration lawyer then he will become a political refugee because of the coup.

[PJcm]

So Thai authorities occasionally do revoke a criminal's passport? Good. Please let us know if they revoked the diplomatic passport of that other criminal as well. He got it from the previous government while on the run. I hope the public prosecutor will do his work well.

FYI Mr Thaksin has a Nigerian passport issued a few years ago.

[khaowong1]

And since the US has been not too keen on this coup business, they will probably drag their feet for a few years. But if I was guessing, and I am, I would guess that he has a new passport. With the money he has stashed away, he could have picked one up from somewhere..

[VillageIdiot]

With the kind of money this guy was able to squirrel away I am sure that he has retained a very, very good and expensive Immigration attorney in the US who will claim that any charges brought against him in Thailand have been co opted by the Military Coup

You're probably right but if his passport has been revoked, which they say it has, then his visa is automatically canceled. Thus he became an illegal immigrant joining the other 11.7 million illegals. Now all he has to do is wait it out until the president signs the executive order next month to legalize illegal immigrants.

You are assuming he is still travelling on the original passport used to leave the country. Having been abroad for some time with access to adequate funds there is a chance the, now former monk, has others.

Montenegro is a popular place for Thai criminals to get passports from.

What Thai criminals?

Are you referring to Thaksin Shinawatra?

Was it ever proven that he travelled on a Montenegrin passport?

Don't post nonsense that you can't verify.

[Dogmatix]

According to CSI LA who has talked to them, local police in Moreno Valley, CA, where the fake monk has taken up residence have never heard anything at all from Thai authorities about the extradition case or the fact that his passport has been revoked. I guess money talks and he has a lot of it. Thai authorities do a poor job at extraditing criminals from overseas even when they have no incentive to flunk it because they usually don't understand the legal processes in the foreign countries and either don't get good legal advice on the ground or don't listen to it. But they are good at sending large delegations of useless people overseas at great expense to taxpayers to mess things up. Don't expect this criminal back on Thai soil any time soon but do expect plenty of spin from Thai authorities blaming others for their lack of progress.

[khaowong1]

According to CSI LA who has talked to them, local police in Moreno Valley, CA, where the fake monk has taken up residence have never heard anything at all from Thai authorities about the extradition case or the fact that his passport has been revoked. I guess money talks and he has a lot of it. Thai authorities do a poor job at extraditing criminals from overseas even when they have no incentive to flunk it because they usually don't understand the legal processes in the foreign countries and either don't get good legal advice on the ground or don't listen to it. But they are good at sending large delegations of useless people overseas at great expense to taxpayers to mess things up. Don't expect this criminal back on Thai soil any time soon but do expect plenty of spin from Thai authorities blaming others for their lack of progress.

Normally, local police in the US have nothing to do with passports, the most they will do is check to see if his passport has a visa, then if the visa is current, pass the buck to the immigration authorities. But they won't even check his passport unless he's broken some local law, speeding, drunk driving, etc. California has such a liberal law about foreigners, that the chances of even immigration getting involved is very remote.

[chotthee]

So Thai authorities occasionally do revoke a criminal's passport? Good. Please let us know if they revoked the diplomatic passport of that other criminal as well. He got it from the previous government while on the run. I hope the public prosecutor will do his work well.

Monk don't travel on passport.

they have special monk papers, and fly 1st class.

[khaowong1]

So Thai authorities occasionally do revoke a criminal's passport? Good. Please let us know if they revoked the diplomatic passport of that other criminal as well. He got it from the previous government while on the run. I hope the public prosecutor will do his work well.

Monk don't travel on passport.

they have special monk papers, and fly 1st class.

You need to quit smoking those funny Thai cigarettes...