WITH its huge golden dome and high-tech light shows, the sprawling Wat Phra Dhammakaya north of Bangkok is the biggest and richest temple in Thailand.
But now a multimillion-pound financial scandal that has dragged its abbot and several senior monks into a government investigation over alleged money-laundering is threatening to rock the faith of even the most devout who flock there.
The accusations follow a series of controversies, about everything from drug possession to sexual assault, involving a growing number of the country’s 300,000 monks.
Last week the £600m wat— the site is as large 550 football pitches — was hit by its biggest scandal yet, when one of its followers, Supachai Srisupa-aksorn, a high-profile banking executive, was accused of running a £16m embezzlement scheme through the temple in which corrupt payments were allegedly disguised as donations to monks.
Supachai has denied the accusations, for which he has not been formally charged.
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“The money and power swirling around some Thai temples and monks makes them immune to criticism,” said Sulak Sivaraksa, a Buddhist scholar, last week.
Amid the public outcry at the moral degradation of the religious Establishment, the military government has launched several attempts to crack down on unruly monks.
However, a branch of a state inquiry charged with reforming the main national institutions has called off its investigation into the Buddhist religious Establishment, under pressure from high-ranking members of the clergy.
Critics say reforms, such as installing a 24-hour hotline for the public to report bad behaviour by monks, have been cosmetic and largely ineffective.
In November, a monk was caught carrying 120,000 methamphetamine pills on a bus to Bangkok. Another was banned from his temple for investing more than £800,000 on the stock market.
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There has also been a surge in suspected sexual abuse cases. Last week a monk in Bangkok was arrested on suspicion of raping an 11-year-old girl. In his room police found three packets of marijuana, four swords and a mobile phone containing a video of the alleged act. The monk denies rape and says the weapons belonged to local teenagers.
In 2013, Luang Pu Nenkham, another monk, was stripped of his title after horrifying devout Thais when a YouTube video of him on board a private jet went viral. Millions of dollars in ill gotten assets were allegedly uncovered in his name. Warrants were issued for his arrest, including a charge of sex with a minor. He remains on the run.
Phra Buddha Issara, an activist monk, argues that the religious Establishment is in desperate need of reform. “Buddhism in Thailand is a poisoned fruit,” he said. “The highest level of the Buddhist religion has turned out to be the devious one,” he said.
The worsening situation poses a problem for the conservative military junta, which seized power last May in a coup after six months of protests that killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more.
Its leader, the former army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, has launched a national “moral crackdown”, closing massage parlours and forcing nightclubs to shut early.
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However, the chairman of the government committee set up to reform the Buddhist clergy but then disbanded said: “I think the committee has completed its job.”