Monks confirm getting big cheques from former cooperative boss Supachai

[Lite Beer]

Monks confirm getting big cheques from former cooperative boss Supachai
Piyanut Tamnukasetchai
The Sunday Nation

BANGKOK: -- TWO MONKS from Wat Dhammakaya told Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials that they had received donations from Supachai Supa-aksorn, former president of Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative and a key embezzlement suspect, but insisted they were not close to Supachai, a source at the DSI revealed yesterday.

Phra Khru Palat Vijahn Thirangkuro and Phra Montri Sudapaso, who met DSI investigators on Friday, confirmed that they had received cheques from Supachai and explained how the money was spent, the source said.

Phra Khru Palat said he had spent Bt119 million in constructing a youth centre in Lop Buri province, while Phra Montri denied the reported Bt100 million sum, saying he actually received a donation of about Bt5 million and it was used to produce materials to train novices.

The source said the information given and some points that the monks failed to clearly explain would be discussed at an upcoming meeting of investigators, to determine whether to file charges against anyone. The investigators are in the process of interviewing people tied to 878 cheques that Supachai signed.

A source said that Wat Dhammakaya abbot Phra Dhammachayo was scheduled to meet the DSI over the donations from Supachai next Thursday.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Monks-confirm-getting-big-cheques-from-former-coop-30256512.html

-- The Nation 2015-03-22

[PatOngo]

Supachai is surely destined for Nirvana after making THAT much merit.

[arthurboy]

People that bought 'shares' in the KCCU were told by the court on Friday that they will not get their money back. It looks like the people have been conned by a classic Ponzi scam.

The court also said that if cash was deposited, then there's a chance of restitution - assuming that sufficient actual money is returned by Supachai et al.

KCCU is also now asking for investors to start depositing money again. Er...no thanks.

Edited March 22, 2015 by arthurboy

[ezzra]

One will 'donate' such huge sums only to atone for their sins, the sins of stealing billions of

baht of peoples money....

The government, or better yet the PM, should put all audit all credit unions and large temples

with impeccably mega amounts of funds and properties, they should be exempt from such

scrutiny, we're all going be very surprise at the findings..

[Pimay1]

Phra Khru Palat said he had spent Bt119 million in constructing a youth centre in Lop Buri province, while Phra Montri denied the reported Bt100 million sum, saying he actually received a donation of about Bt5 million and it was used to produce materials to train novices.

Does anyone know what is entailed in the training of novices? No pun intended.

[Thaddeus]

BANGKOK: -- TWO MONKS from Wat Dhammakaya told Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials that they had received donations from Supachai Supa-aksorn, former president of Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative and a key embezzlement suspect, but insisted they were not close to Supachai, a source at the DSI revealed yesterday.

They were just out doing their normal 6am begging tour, and he just happened to be passing and dropped a large stash of cash in to their bowls.

Get real.

[issanaus]

Phra Khru Palat said he had spent Bt119 million in constructing a youth centre in Lop Buri province, while Phra Montri denied the reported Bt100 million sum, saying he actually received a donation of about Bt5 million and it was used to produce materials to train novices.

Does anyone know what is entailed in the training of novices? No pun intended.

In the case of Wat Dhammakaya - marketing and operating an EFTPOS device

[Strangebrew]

Well them I- phones are expensive you know plus you expect an abbot to walk any place that new Rolls Royce silver shadow comes in handy. Besides hookers and beer not cheap.oops forgot hush money for those underage boys and girls we do at the temple.

[robblok]

People that bought 'shares' in the KCCU were told by the court on Friday that they will not get their money back. It looks like the people have been conned by a classic Ponzi scam.

The court also said that if cash was deposited, then there's a chance of restitution - assuming that sufficient actual money is returned by Supachai et al.

KCCU is also now asking for investors to start depositing money again. Er...no thanks.

So the KCCU is a sinking ship .. no wonder Thais don't trust cooperatives. These guys (including the monks) should go in jail for a long time and possessions should be stripped from their relatives too if it can be proven money was given to relatives.

[WonnabeBiker]

Am dreaming of a hard-hitting team. Throw the suspects in jail, do the raids at dawn and don't schedule an interrogating "Thursday next week".

Look at root causes. How could this happen? How could this Coop fail to audit itself? Why is an officer allowed to sign checks without a second signature and some oversight?!?

It might be unfair as I have no idea what difficulties an investigation faces. But one reads in the papers about stuff and months later, the begin their work?!?

Thailand needs a tough law banning the pocketing of funds and punishing violations with the loss of the job and pension entitlement!

[JOC]

Ordinary citizens or monks. All the same!!

Seems like greed is part of the Thai DNA...............

[EyesWideOpen]

M.o.n.e.y l.a.u.n.d.e.r.i.n.g.................. Why does everyone keep avoiding

the 800 pound gorilla in the room ? Is it against Buddhist principles to say

what is really going on ?

[robblok]

M.o.n.e.y l.a.u.n.d.e.r.i.n.g.................. Why does everyone keep avoiding

the 800 pound gorilla in the room ? Is it against Buddhist principles to say

what is really going on ?

Yes i guess large part is money laundering.. would not be surprised if part of the donation comes back to the giver squeaky clean. Maybe by hiring companies related to them at inflated prices. Who knows.. I can't believe that these donations are just that.. donations.

I believe many temples are used for money laundering.

[Tatsujin]

So, the money laundering, protection, theft, rape, murder, drugs etc now also permeates religion here from top to bottom ... what a surprise. And everyone pretends they know nothing, even when given direct evidence disproving their lies. The Thai version of "buddhism" practiced here is so far skewed from the "real" buddhist teachings, it's laughable.

[Orac]

M.o.n.e.y l.a.u.n.d.e.r.i.n.g.................. Why does everyone keep avoiding

the 800 pound gorilla in the room ? Is it against Buddhist principles to say

what is really going on ?

Yes i guess large part is money laundering.. would not be surprised if part of the donation comes back to the giver squeaky clean. Maybe by hiring companies related to them at inflated prices. Who knows.. I can't believe that these donations are just that.. donations.

I believe many temples are used for money laundering.

It certainly smells like money laundering, especially the monk stating that the donation wasn't 100m baht and he only received 5m - since we are talking about cheques here rather than cash the correct amount should already be known to the DSI.

Be interesting to see of this goes any further than the investigation into the private jet-setting monk from a couple of years back which had money laundering written all over it.

[Thai at Heart]

Well, of course it would be too much to audit the temple

This is just a huge washing operation.

[Sviss Geez]

Well them I- phones are expensive you know plus you expect an abbot to walk any place that new Rolls Royce silver shadow comes in handy. Besides hookers and beer not cheap.oops forgot hush money for those underage boys and girls we do at the temple.

"...oops forgot hush money for those underage boys and girls we do at the temple."

Good of you to admit your perversion. Does it feel better now that it's out in the open?

[maidee]

ok, there are not close, but they get big checks (in their personal name) ?

is this a reverse nigerian scam ?

[Srikcir]

Topic for tax reform:

Income tax on money and/or other value given or earned by monks above bt250,000/year?

[pedro01]

M.o.n.e.y l.a.u.n.d.e.r.i.n.g.................. Why does everyone keep avoiding

the 800 pound gorilla in the room ? Is it against Buddhist principles to say

what is really going on ?

My thoughts exactly....

[PETERTHEEATER]

BANGKOK: -- TWO MONKS from Wat Dhammakaya told Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials that they had received donations from Supachai Supa-aksorn, former president of Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative and a key embezzlement suspect, but insisted they were not close to Supachai, a source at the DSI revealed yesterday.

They were just out doing their normal 6am begging tour, and he just happened to be passing and dropped a large stash of cash in to their bowls.

How little you understand. Monks do not have to beg, the local population support them. The purpose of the early morning walk is to give the people the opportunity to donate alms and, in doing so, they gain merit.

Get real.

[Acharn]

So, the money laundering, protection, theft, rape, murder, drugs etc now also permeates religion here from top to bottom ... what a surprise. And everyone pretends they know nothing, even when given direct evidence disproving their lies. The Thai version of "buddhism" practiced here is so far skewed from the "real" buddhist teachings, it's laughable.

Interesting. And the "real" Buddhist teaching is to be found where, exactly? Oh, yeah, and how is it that you know this?

[Acharn]

Am dreaming of a hard-hitting team. Throw the suspects in jail, do the raids at dawn and don't schedule an interrogating "Thursday next week".

Look at root causes. How could this happen? How could this Coop fail to audit itself? Why is an officer allowed to sign checks without a second signature and some oversight?!?

It might be unfair as I have no idea what difficulties an investigation faces. But one reads in the papers about stuff and months later, the begin their work?!?

Thailand needs a tough law banning the pocketing of funds and punishing violations with the loss of the job and pension entitlement!

Well, this is common in countries that do not have strong regulation of financial institutions. The American Savings & Loan industry back in the 1980s, for example, or hedge funds and investment banks in 2007. An American teacher named Bill Black wrote a book called, "The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One." They put more than 1,000 S&L executives behind bars back then. Not so much now. The Bank of Thailand is one of the most competent central banks in the world. I don't know how well the lower level banks and credit unions are regulated or by whom, but it's clear there is need for reform of credit unions.

[Robby nz]

Wat Dammakaya has branches all over the world, 40 at last count as well as 2 satellite TV stations.

No doubt they all have bank accounts in their respective countries and there will be facilities to transfer large amounts of money from Thailand to those accounts, for religious purposes, read tax free,.

It would be very easy for someone in Thailand to donate a few (hundred) million through the Wat here for a building fund in a temple in another country only to become a 'contractor' to the temple the donation was made to, with a commission to the temple of course.

All with no accountability as to where the 'donation' came from or where it ended up.

We should also not lose sight of the fact that Dr Weng told us that Thaksin had been a big supporter of the temple for many years.

Could this be the answer to how the billions corrupted from the rice scheme left the country ?

[khaowong1]

I wrote on another post, I lived in Khok Samrong from 2006 - 2013, never saw a "youth center" there. Will the DSI check out this information? Doubtful..

[cookee68]

Even the monks are just as corrupt as half of Thailand's elite,

[tomacht8]

Monks confirm getting big cheques from former cooperative boss Supachai

Laughable.
The cash flows are however already clear.
Yes they admit only what is undoubtedly can be seen on the bank accounts.

So where is the money now?

Phra Khru Palat said he had spent Bt119 million in constructing a youth centre in Lop Buri province, while Phra Montri denied the reported Bt100 million sum, saying he actually received a donation of about Bt5 million and it was used to produce materials to train novices.

So then, where is the Bt119 million youth centre in Lop Buri?
So where are the Bt5 million materials to train novices?
Where are the missing 95 million Bath?
And where are the rest from the 10 billion?

Available evidence suggests that Phra Dhammchayo received more than Bt300 million and Phra Khru Paladwijahn over Bt100 million from the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative's bank accounts. This money allegedly came via Supachai, who is accused of embezzling more than Bt10 billion during his time as president.

Supachai is facing charges related to allegations that he and some accomplices had illegally funnelled more than Bt10 billion from the cooperative's bank accounts, of which at least Bt684 million is believed to have gone to Dhammakaya Temple and its abbot.

Looks like they have problems to get the embezzled money back.

[khaowong1]

"So then, where is the Bt119 million youth centre in Lop Buri?" Really good question.. Like I said before, I lived there for 7 years and haven't seen it or even heard about it. If it was there, I should have known since I was involved in a lot of youth activities then.

[Chris Lawrence]

Topic for tax reform:

Income tax on money and/or other value given or earned by monks above bt250,000/year?

.....and the Temples are audited once a year to show how their donations are received and spent.

[MaiChai]

Even 5M is alot of money for novice monk training materials?