Temples in disrepute after fraud and corruption
Recently, a scandal came to light in which officials and monks embezzled a total of 60 million baht from the temple maintenance fund. The corruption has damaged the image of many well-known temples.
The embezzlement became known last month when the police's Counter-Corruption Division questioned four officials of the National Office of Buddhism. They are suspected of having pocketed part of the money from the fund to twelve temples.
The police handling the temple corruption case will inspect temples in Bangkok and the provinces next week for evidence to further investigate cases of corruption based on irregularities.
Deputy Commander Pol Col Warayuth Sukwat reveals that a temple in Lopburi province was recently inspected. Evidence of financial misconduct was found in the temple in question. The investigation led to further plans to review the financial records of 30 other temples this month.
The division plans to survey 460 temples nationwide. This investigation will initially focus on temples involved in suspicious activity in 2014, as that year saw the highest number of corruption cases surfaced. Up to 700 million baht is believed to have been embezzled from the state.
Prime Minister Prayut has already announced that the perpetrators will be severely punished.
A lot of money is involved, especially at temples of name and fame. There you also stumble over the collection buses. Monks who let themselves be transported by Mercedes, etc. I often crack down on the Isaan, but those rural temples there smell a lot fresher than those famous temples in Bangkok or elsewhere in Thailand.
There are also regular temples in BKK, but they are not visited en masse by tourists and hi-so, but by the local population. We come regularly and they are satisfied with every donation, including 20 Thb. These temples also have a bit of a social service function in my opinion. The monks walk their rounds neatly every day, but in my opinion they cannot eat and use it all themselves and the less fortunate regularly come to get food, clothes and shampoo, etc.
All those collection boxes you stumble over, I can't imagine that there is never a monk who cannot resist the temptation to 'accidentally' take one or more banknotes when emptying them.