Court clears five senior monks of money laundering charges
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published :
15 Apr 2021 at 04:00
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Five former senior monks have been cleared of money laundering charges in connection with the temple fund embezzlement scandal, said a source.
The monks who attended a rite organised at Wat Sa Ket temple in Bangkok on Tuesday to reinstate them into the monkhood were Phra Phrom Sitthi, Phra Ratchakitchaphon, Phra Ratcha-uppasenaphon, Phra Sikhunaphon and Phra Khru Siriwihan, said the source. They were acquitted in the money-laundering case and their money was returned to them after it was earlier frozen during an investigation.
Former auditor-general Pisit Leelavachiropas, in his capacity as a member of the Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya University council, has previously confirmed that the monks had strictly adhered to rules and regulations while they were in jail. He added that police and public prosecutors hadn't ordered the monks, who are at Wat Sam Phraya and Wat Sa Ket temples, to formally leave the monkhood, even though they were formally stripped of their robes. The judges still recognised them as monks and they had appeared in court as monks, not laymen. As soon as they were released on bail, they switched back to wearing their robes and resumed their roles at the temples, said the source.