Expelled Sangha Supreme Councillor fled to Laos

Expelled Sangha Supreme Councillor fled to Laos

Phra Phrom Methee, then assistant abbot of Wat Samphanthawong, attends a ceremony at his temple in Bangkok in 2016. (File photo by Samarn Sudto)
Phra Phrom Methee, then assistant abbot of Wat Samphanthawong, attends a ceremony at his temple in Bangkok in 2016. (File photo by Samarn Sudto)

Former Sangha Supreme Council member Phra Phrom Methee fled to Laos after avoiding arrest over the temple funds embezzlement scandal and police are now seeking his extradition.

The senior monk, 77, who was also the 4th-7th ecclesiastical region governor, is wanted under an arrest warrant for allegedly aiding in embezzlement, malfeasance and money laundering.

National police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda led investigators from the Crime Suppression Division, the Metropolitan Police Bureau and the Immigration Bureau to the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom on Friday after learning that Phra Phrom Methee, formerly assistant abbot of Wat Samphanthawong, had crossed the border there to Laos.

A source said that Phra Phrom Methee was attending an event in Phitsanulok on May 24 when police raided three temples in Bangkok and arrested several senior monks, including Sangha Supreme Councillors, for alleged involvement in the embezzlement of state temple development funds.

On learning of the arrests, Phra Phrom Methee went to Nakhon Phanom instead of returning to Wat Samphanthawong in Samphanthawong district of Bangkok.

He travelled in a chauffer-driven black van owned by a well-to-do woman follower to Wat Pa Sukhontharak in Renu Nakhon district of Nakhon Phanom.

There the woman contacted a Lao woman, who was also a follower of Phra Phrom Methee, to arrange his escape across the Mekong River to Laos. The Lao woman was in Thakhek, the capital of Khammouane province, the source said.

Pol Gen Chakthip was discussing the former senior monk's extradition with Lao authorities, the source said.

According to the source, Phra Phrom Methee had expected the legal action long before the raids and had told his followers that he was not worried because he had many followers in Laos who were ready to look after him.

His monastic ranking of "Phrom" was revoked by His Majesty the King after the Bangkok arrests. 

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