Police arrested Luang Phor Alongkot, the former abbot of well-known Aids hospice temple, early Tuesday morning for multiple charges including embezzlement and money-laundering.
Pol Maj Gen Withaya Sriprasertparp, commander of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), said police arrested Luang Phor Alongkot at Wat Phrabatnampu in Lop Buri province around 1am as detectives noticed he was leaving the temple, possibly to escape.
Police took the former abbot to the CSD in Bangkok for interrogation.
Luang Phor Alongkot, 65, was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases on Friday last week. He was charged with temple fund embezzlement, malfeasance and money-laundering. The malfeasance charge was pressed as a monk is considered a government official.
Police said they searched the temple and seized financial documents, including donations and expenses dating back to 2019. State audit officials joined the search, and land title deeds were also impounded from the temple.
Police also arrested influencer Seksan “Mor Bee” Sapsubbsakul, 43, who assisted in fund-raising for the temple. Police took Mr Seksan, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium, to key locations to search for and collect evidence to support prosecution in the case.
The arrest happened as police raided 17 locations in Bangkok and Lop Buri on Tuesday morning.
The arrests followed suspicions about Luang Phor Alongkot’s true identity and education background, the spending of donations that the Aids hospice temple had raised over the past three decades, the use of a dead man’s ID number to open a bank account to receive donations and the treatment of HIV/Aids patients at the temple.
Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said after interrogating Luang Phor Alongkot on Tuesday that the former abbot had now voluntarily left the monkhood.
He said the former abbot had told police his temple had received ten-digit donations. This was more than the temple could spend, so it was used to buy land, construct football fields and invest in companies.
CSD commander Pol Maj Gen Withaya said they would also prosecute “Mor Bee” for alleged misuse of about 300 million baht from a temple fund, and would look for accomplices.
Police arrest Seksan 'Mor Bee' Sapsubbsakul on Tuesday morning. (Police photo)
